Annual Assemblaaos as Related to the Persist cues of Culture Patterns-- an Antbropo logical Scudy of a Sumi-ier Coumunity By A DISSERTATION PRESEi^TTED TO TF£ GRADDATE COaNCIL OF TKE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAi, FULFILIJ-KOT OF THE REQUIRE^-EiVlS FOR TtS DEGP.KE OF DOCTOR OF PKILOSOI'HY UNn^RSITiT OF FLORIDA 1971 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/annualassemblageOOnevirich Copyright by Gwan KenneJy Neville 1971 ACKNCTLEDGr.MEm'S Thanks are due to many x/iio have helped to make th5.s dist'.ertat5.oa possible. Funds for the research and \\n:iting period were provided by the Graduate Echocl of the University of Florida in the form of a research fellowshipo Financial assistance in the form of miracograph time and supnlies was given by tho Mountain Retreat Association^ Dr, C. Grisr Davis and the I'lontrcat Board graciously gave permission for the study to be conducted and ;jere helpful and interested at every turn. Other officials at Montreat were equally coope.rat?.ve and donated time and energy to the research endeavor. These include E. A. Andrews, K„ N. Stutts, William Schwantes, T. A, Stubbs and the staff of the Montreat Business Officeo Other members of the Montreat comir.unit^/ x-jho gave their time and interest are too numerous to mention all by name. Particularly I wish to thank those who submitted to lengthy interviews during their vacation time and all the older residents who patiently recalled genealogies for hours on end, As my informal sponsors and constant Vieipers the Kenneth Foreman family were valuable to me beyond words, as information sources and as concerned friends. Lila and Dick Ray served to keep alive my sense of perspective and my sense of humor while becoming close friends as well. Among the Montreat people to whom I owe a special debt are the collegiates, \Ah:- were always full of fun and quick to keep me on my toes. Fieldwork was enriched by the presence of my children and husband, each of whom, contributed particularly research talent in his ill ovn way. Betsy Anderson and Lee Walker served temporarily as research assistaiiLri for interviewing „ During the long process of analysing data and vriting up results I am grateful for the support of Myra Ueaver and Dorothy Ncvill, vho aided in many ways, and for that of MrSo Lady Jane Turner vjho faith- fully kept my house and loved my children^, Professional advice and training are appreciated from the members of the doctoral ccnmiittee, Dr. William Carter, Dro Alexander Moore, and Dr. Elijiabeth Eddy, Carol Taylor saw me through the early stages of the graduate school endeavor. My greatest debt is to my advisor and friend. Professor Solon ICimball, whose intellectual guidance and personal encouragement have consistently facilitated my growth as an anthropolo- gist and as a human being. PREFACE This stucly repoi-ts the results of a suiretier-long iiwer.t i gation of an annual gathering of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the summer comramity and conference center at Montreat, North Carolina. This coiruuunity of 100 year-round residents, a small church college, a store, and a post office is a qu^'et village during the winter months. On June first a steady streara of incoming suinmer residents begins, and by July every house is filled with people attending religious conferences, visif;ing kinfolks, chatting with friends, relaxing, and resting^ Elderly people who have been brought from small apartments in the city hold court on porches, young adults work as waitresses and busboys at the conference dormitories, children attend daily organised recreation and play in groups along the creek. Men talk church politics, and women shuck fresh corn and slice tomatoes while discussing their children and the kino In late August the outward stream of residents begins to flow back into the tov.ms and cities of the South, and by September first all is quiet again. The existence of such an assembly grounds raises an interesting set of questions for anthropological inquiry. The focal point is religious, with the conference buildings located at the geographic center. This religious center is circled by perruinent cottages belonging to to-v-ni and urban dwellers who have made an annual pilgriim:i,age over a seventy year period for vacacioas and for visiting with family. Questiot^s that have been dealt with during this investigation pertain to the nature of this gathering as an extra- residential coinaunity and as a ceremonial cnactir.ent of cultural values. As a preface to the report of results, some introductory remarks are included here regarding the fielA.ork itself and the nature of the method of discovery employed,, I knew of the Montreat conference center before studying anthropology. When the time came to select a topic for field research. this particular community came to mind as the ideal locality to investigate certain problems regarding kinship, cultural persis- tence, and cultural transmission which I believed to be crucial in understanding rhe urbanization process and its accompanying social segment at ion o The methods employed were those of natural history and of the conmunity study methodology (Arensberg, 1954). Behavior, groupings, and attitudes were studied within the context of other behavior and attitudes making up the total life of the comini.'.nity. Abstractions regarding structure and world-view were elicited f:;Gm the fabric of organizational arrangements witnessed in the living situation. This method required residence in the comnuinity and participation in its activities throughout the summer season of 1970, Specific techniques of field observation and reco-'-ding induced participant observation, counting procedures, event analysis, use of charts and maps, and historical sources. One of the underlying asGum.ptions of this approach is that the m.ethods employed and the questions asked have a decided bet^ring on the nature of Ote results obtained from research. Man and his communities are a part of the bio-social aninial world and are intricately balanced within the web of life. Because of this. careful tools raust be employed in the study of human groups, disturb- ing as little as possible of the natural flow of ongoing conjuunity activity o The first of these tools is participant observation, Par^ticipant Observation The process of moving into my Montreat cottage becai.;e the first stage in the participant observing. I arrived alone by bus in late May, carrying with rae only one suitcase and a type'.vi"iter , In the nearby towTi of Black Mountain I was met at the bus station by the owners of my rented house, giving m.e my first taste of the Montreat spirit. They had come all the way from their home city seventy miles away to clean the house for my arrival and see that all was going smoothly o Unfortunately, the winter freezes had damaged the hot water pipes, so for two weeks I \ms without hot water until the plumbers from Asheville coald work into their schedule a trip over the mountaiuo The only heat was obtained from, an open fireplace in which I burned the wood I foraged daily. Older residents told me later thai: Montreat is supposed to be a little like "campingo" My early weeks confirmed this. During the first weeks I also learned the rudimentary eleiaents of living in an extended kin group. I was told by the ovmers of the cottage that they had promised to let their sozi and his bride use the first floor of the house for eight weeks of the summer. Living in this arrangement, I learned the art of sharing a house with "kinrolks," ignoring noise and visitors, being polite to all who stop by, and having household waffle suppers at the drop of a hat. Getting acquainted with the officials in the Mountain Retreat Associr.cio-a provided further orientation for me. The manner and sequence of my first iaterviexvs and the process through which I was introduced to the year-round coirinuuity provided insights into inforuial. networks o Throughout the suraner I attended every activity possible, W:ien my children arrived, they immediately enrolled in the young people's clubs, where they made friends and became a part of daily rounds. In the morning I chatted with those who gathered at the Post Office to get their mail and with I4ro Hinkle, the village storekeeper. During the days and evenings there were conferences, kin get-togethers, collegiate parties and outings, and informal encounters. As a new member of the Montreat Woman's Club I provided a car and assisted in the annual tour of homes „ As an interested new citizen, I attended Town Council meetings and helped serve food at the Cottage CK-rners' Picnic. In the capacity of visiting scholar, I was incorporated into the coffee break at the Historical Foundation Library and was invited as the Association's guest to the fund-raising dinners and the patrons' banquet. Through participation in all these official and semi- official regular activities, I gradually gained an awareness of the patterns of groupings and types of activities making up the fabric of summer life^ My husband assisted in the research by his knowledge of the coinmunity from his ovm childhood^ His kin-relatedness to one of the large families m-ade him the perfect introducer^ Because his own childhood friends were present, a treasure house of information fell to me on group formation, style, sequencing, and frequency of the friendship visiting pro-^-ess. His aunts and uncles of "the greater family" were especially tolerc'.nt of my interest in history, e„l«.e. an. .Inshlp and became so.e of ^ ™ost valued Informants. I>„.1„<, all these observations and participations I attempted to refrain from any note-taUing until after the event „hen I could Jot dovn Significant h^ppeninss. !..«, the details .ere filled in .hen It «as possible to sit down at the typewriter. Counting some counting and note-taUing was necessary in order to produce concrete descriptions and to establish patterns of behavior. All the registration cards for the s^er conferences were tabulated. Ctty of origin was recorded for each participant. Lists of cottage owners were assembled, houses were counted and described. Guests at dormi- tories and hotels were tabulated for each conference. The assombU.g of demographic data on the population was compU- eated by the fact that families arrived and departed wee.ly, ma.ing , it difficult to find residents at home to do census interviewing. Tinallv. the household data were assembled after an accidental discovery. ^ discovered that cottagers had sent cards in during June to the sanitation chainnan on the To,™ Council requesting .arbage pic.-up during the dates of their expected occupancy. With the help of these cards and the sanitation chain^n. who drove me over the garbage routes, house occupancy pattern was established for various periods of the suimer. interviewing was conducted on a sample of the population in order to establish demographic characteristics. Due to the erratic ,-f was not feasible to take a random sampling pattern of residency, it was not for the purposes of extensive interviewing. Instead, a purposive sampling was drawn from five neighborhoods identified by residents ix ,..^elve. and .. c.se.vaUcn of Interaction. In each nelshbor- hoo. si. couples „e„ inte.vie^ea, t.o fro. each of three age „.e.ories. The age catesorles selected .ere 20-39. 40-59. .na over 60. Mditional stipulations .ere that all persons inter- .,,..ed be tarried, have children, and have attended Kontreat £or .■ ,„c or .ore s^ers. The interview schedule is included in the ^ppendi.. Xntervie„in. „as all done within a t„o-v,eeU period in August, the pea. population period. In addition to the help c£ .y husband. I also had the help of two ccUese students who did four interviews each in order to catch the respondents hefore the end of su^er. open-ended questions were as.ed and additional data were recorded and later sorted and coded. Every couple selected for the „,,., to be interviewed, and all were cooperative and sample was willi-r.g to oe o-uuci. helpful. t-,--.r, Analvsis and FA.pnf Analysis Tnteraction AnaiybJ.& <^'-'- . The procedure of interaction analysis described by Chappie and Arensherg (1940) was employed to analyse s^U group meetings by charting the duration, frequency, and intensity of interaction ai-ected toward individuals and initiated by the.. Through the use of this technique, behavioral sequences were isolated and e«„ined .or the implicit meanings and values. This procedure was useful tn isolating the nature of the relationships of teacher to student, minister to congregation, and family head to the household .embers. In event analysis the sa.e principles were applied but to the structure of action within a total event (Kimball and Pearsall, 1055, The events of the family gathering, the cottage owners picnic, the .orning worship, and infor^l parties were recorded in this manner. Different sets of interactions accompany various types of events, and by asking the questions of "who does vhat to vhom when and v;here?" these event types emerge as appropriate behavior sequences in orderly patterns. Charts and Maps Charts and maps served the obvious purpose of visual assistance in conceptualising the patterning of space-use and the ordering of activities within the whole. Maps of settlement pattern were over- layed with colored pins representing kin groups and periodicity of house occupancy. Arrangement of houses on ridges and in the valley was seen as a reflection of behavior and meanings (after Hall, 1966). Charts recorded the number, frequency, and duration of conferences, planned activities, and scheduled events over a sunder-long period. In. addition to these techniques, the observation and recording of technology included the changes in house types and construction methods over a period of time, an inde. of cultural changes in the Montr eat cove. T?ic!rnrical Materials Time depth was added to the synchronic view of the community by the use of historical materials. Among primary sources was the history of Presbyterianism in Scotland and America assembled in many volumes and artifacts in the library of the Presbyterian Historical Foundation at Montreat. Church records, minutes of the General Assembly and of Synods and Presbyteries, religious publications, and conference bulletins were consulted. Montreat history was re- constructed by reading personal diaries, letters, and looking at .Id photographs, .lost valuable in reconstructing the past were the long conversations with older members of the Montreat community. o] xi Each larger far;ily has one informally appointed historian v-ho has in his possession the records of family genealogy » The historian also has in his recall dozens of anecdotes told him hy his parents and grandparents about the ancestors ..ho entered from Ireland or Scotland. Many family histories have been published in private editions and bought by descendants. These provided additional data. The kinship conversations with elderly Presbyterians, however, were the essential ingredients in my own synthesis of past with present, and in developin an awareness of the dynamics of cultural continuity and cultural transmission. Margjinal Native- -Anthropologist as Human One of the most difficult aspects of the study of the people of Montreat was the constant ambivalence that was experienced about invading their private xvorld and exposing it to the glaring light of social inquiry. Their courtesy and hospitality, the willingness with which they shared ren.erabrances and meanings, and the sincerity with which many took me into their private world all made it doubly hard to subject their lifeways to analysis. At times it was tempting to relax and become one of them. At other times T experienced hostility at having been shut out of some group or event. Even while he works as a social analyst, the anthropologist remains a human with feelings and fears. A fieldi7orV.er experiencing such mixed feelings is describee by Freillch (1970) as "^rginal native." An anthropologist involved in such situations is an outsider but an individual ^ho wants very m>ach to be "in." From time to time during social gatherings and in ii^dividually shared confidences, both the worker and the Informant may take on pretended roles which Freilich designates "temporary permanent native." In this capacity the two tnutually agree temp- orarily to pretend that the anthropologist is not really going to ,^ite all this down but that he is really one of the people. Within this bind of being an inside-outsider, wanting to maintain objectivity as a hard-nosed social scientist but at the same time wanting to be included in a human society, the anthropologist in the field carries out his daily work. Notes are made and journals kept, events and orders of action meticulously recorded, confessionals listened to uneasily, rejections and setbacks dealt with, maps made, houses counted, songs and religious services learned. All these activities are crucial to the field method. Equally important is retaining one's sense of identity and equilibrium. On the second point the fieldwork manuals offer few suggestions. It remains for each fieldworker to play the role of stranger and friend in his own way with his o^m configuration of personal strengths and weaknesses. After the return to academia, one experiences a long period of recovery, re- incorporation into the scholarly community, and separation from the emotional involvement of the fieldx^rk experience. It is only then that the work of science can proceed, although the science of anthropology will hopefully always be modified by the intensity of involvement required by the art of the field. The study reported here represents an attempt to answer some questions about the nature of human society and its validation in religious and communal life. Many more questions remain to be asked regarding the manifestations of community, the linkages xiii betveeu public and private worlds, and the ceremonial expressions of worlG-vieu. These questions are left for future studies in future years, TABLE OF COOTEInTS Page ACKNav^LEDGEI^E^/rS PREFACE ... XV]. LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES '"^^^^ . ^ xviii ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Chapter 1. PRESBYTERIAN ca*rumTIES IN THE SOlTTH 1790- 1S90 ..... 5 2. THE MONTREiVT CWIMUNITY ^'^ 3. FAMILY A^ID KT.N ^^ 4. RELIGION AND WORLD-VIEl^ ^ ^° 5. LIFE CYCLE AND SOCI/.LIZATION '^^■' 6. COi-lMULs'ITY, RTIES OF ICTENSiTia^TION, AND CUITURA-L PERSISTENCE: CONCLUSIONS AliD SlJtill/.RY APPENDIX , REFERENCES CITED <• ADDITIONAL REFERENCES ■ BIOGPAPHICAL SKETCH 173 191 196 201 206 LIST a? TABLES Page Table I. PRESBYTERIAN CQE'IUInTITY FOFxM 1790-1890 30 II. COl^RENCE -ATTENDEES BY STATE OF RESIDENCE A7 III. COTTAGE-a^NERS BY STATE OF RESIDENCE 52 IV. SIZE OF TWJN OF RESIDENCE FOR COTTAGE -a^TIERS .... 53 V. OCCliPATION OF COTTAGE -Ol^^\^RS VI. TYPE OF EDUCATION OF COTTAGE -ai^IERS VII. ACTlVTriES OF WOMEN ANT) MEN VIII. ACTIVITIES OF WOMEN AND MEN THROUGHOL'] THE LIFE CYCLE 55 5 7 140 142 IX TYPES OF COLLEGES AND L^TVERSTTlES ATTENDED BY COLLEGIATE WORKERS 155 X. WORLD-VIEW ANT) SCCIALIZATION STRUCTLT.ES 161 XI. WOPXD-VIE\^ AND EXPFZSSION IN SOCL^L SYSTEMS 167 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure I PRESBYIERIAN MIGRATION TO THE AMERICAN ^^ COLONIES 1710-1790 39 II. THE MONTREAT COVE HI CONFERENCE AND HCfTEL REGISTRATION AT ^^ MONTREAT, JUNE -AUGUST 1970 IV. THREE GENERATION FAMILY GATHERING ^^ V. FOUR GENERATION FA^HLY GATHERING ^^ 76 VI. THE GRiATER FAMILY VII CLUSTERING OF MONTREAT HOUSES BY ^^ DESCENT GROUP: GROUP #1 VIII. KIN-REIATEDN-ESS OF HOUSE aWERS IN ^ ^^ DESCENT GROUP #1 IX. SPACING OF THREE DESCENI GROUPS #2, #3, and #4 .... 91 7 KIN-REL.\TEDNESS OF HOUSE CTWERS IN ^^ DESCENT GROUPS #2, #3, and i^4 XI. SPACING OF HOUSES a^ED BY DESCENT . . 93 GROUPS 7'^5, #6, and #7 XIT KIN-REL.'VTEDNESS OF HOUSE CT-JNERS IN ^^ DESCENT GROUPS #5, v6 , and #7 XIII. STRUCTURE OF PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH GOVERNMENT 119 XI^^ MONTREAT AND THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH HI xvii Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Council tf the university of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ANNUAL ASSEMBIAGES AS REIATED TO THE PERSISTENCE OF CULTURE PATTERNS — AN ANTHRaPOLOGICAL STUDY OF A SUMMER COMMUNITY By Owen Kennedy Neville December, 1971 Chairman: Professor Solon Kimball Major Department: Anthropology A summer coimnunity of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in North Carolina is investigated by the natural history method as an annual manifestation of connnunity form and expression of cultural identity among otherwise videly scattered urban residents. Familial, religious, and socialization structures are shown to be closely linked and these linkages expressed ceremonially in the interactions of community participants. Over a seventy year period this gathering has served to facilitate the retention of certain essential elements of Pres- byterian community form from the agrarian life style and has served to facilitate the persistence of this culture as a viable entity. Elements of kinship and family coupled with emphasis on church and the Calvinistic world-view are strengthened by the annual assemblage, and within the summer community socialization structures ^re provided for the enculturation of the young. xvlii Through this gathering a network has developed among a group of widely scattered nuclear families who are tied together by kin- ship, friendship, and shared lifeways.. The findings of this research indicate the need for expanded models for the study of personal communities and ceremonial life in American society. Rites of intensif i ration are seen as an important element in the dynamics of cultural persistence among cultural sub- segments of the urban population. ■xix INTRODUCTION The transition from an agrarian economy to an urban, industrial one in the Aruerican South has been accomt-anied by a transition front older forms of community to those compatible v.ith city IJfe. In the South' s historical rural system, each sub- cultural group retained classic patterns of settlement, uechnology, and social separation characteristic of its Old World predecessor. In the transition to the nev7 life styles required of commercial industrial economy, each of these cultural groups has maintained certain eleiaents of its o^m culture, expressed in various ways within the new environment. The problem £.:amined here regards the nature of the dynamics foi re-establishing and maintaining this cultural identity. Mora opecifically, it deals with cultural persistence ancng groups of tow-n and urban dwellers who are widely dispersed and have be.n assumed to be assimilated into general American core culture. One vehicle for carrying the culture of such a scattered conuaunity is the ceremonial, in which members of the culture gather periodically and ritually reinforce their world-view, ceremonially re-stating chose values that are central to the ongoing of their cultural identicy. This type of con.nunal ritual is called a rite of intensification by Chappie and Coon (1542). Such a conenunal ritual served as a laboratory in this study, within which the dynamics of cultural persistence were explored. The summer corraunity at Montreat, North Carolina, serves as a co^^unal gathering for Southern Presbyterians of Scotch-Irish descent. Montreat provides a locale for three different types of activites. reflecting the three central emphases of the Presbyterian coinmunity fonn-family, religious ritual and doctrine, and socialization of the young. First, it serves as a location for a summer cottage co™.unity where families spend vacations visiting with kinsmen and attending reunions of the larger family. Second, it offers a meet- ing place for religious conferences and meetings where active church n^embers from throughout the South come for spiritual renewal. Third, it offers planned activities for children of both vacationers and conferees. The planned programs are carried out in ways that reflect family and church values and transmit to the young the essentials of Presbyterianisia. The individuals who participate in these gatherings live in towns and cities during the winter months in nuclear family units. Their public world behaviors are appropriate to the requirements of a highly elaborated, diversified urban society. Separate cultural identity is subordinated to the diversified aggregate of the urban culture. The separateness of the group as a sub-culture appears annually, however, when the scattered families gather within the boundaries of the 14ontreat community. At this time the interactions, ordering of individuals and events, and specific cultural practices represent the essential elements of Presbyterian community form typical of older, agrarian patterns. The basic question asked in the Montreat study dealt with the dynamics of re-establishment and maintenance of culture and its appropriate community form in the face of disturbances in economic o ma base and settlement pattern. Data frou the study Indicate that one significant mechanism for the preservation and persistence of culture is the periodical restatement of the essential community forrr.s in a rite of intensification. Such a rite provides a locale for the ceremonial enactment of ..orld-viev and hum.an groupings and thus facilitates the retention of a cultural identity amon^, individuals f dispersed residence. The gathering serves also to establish and ntain a netv;ork of kinship, friendship, and shared life.?ays among scattered families. In addition, it prcvides for the selection of appropriate marriage partners and for the socialization of the young in the Presbyterian way of life. The argument for the ceremonial function of this suma^.er comm.unity is presented in five sections. First, historical data are introduced to provide a picture of the agrarian corr.munity form of Piedmont Presbyterians between 1790 and 1890. The classical coirmunity is defined as co-terminous with the congregation, linked to other conmiunity-congregations by eKchange of nmrriage partners. Second, present day Montreat is described including its physical and social components. The two worlds of cottage people and conference attenders are examined as representing the dual emphasis on family and church. Third, family gatherings and the structure of family and kin are described in detail as evidence for the centrality of this aspect of life. Fourth, the siguificanc em.phasis placed on religion is show-a to be linked to the focus on the fam.ily in the participation selectively by men and women in both these structures as dictated by theological doctrine and sacred mythology. Participation is further dictaced by age and by .tatus, and the correct ordering is communicated to the young in appropriate interaction sequences. Finally, the topic of socialization is presented in order to demonstrate that vorld-view and conn^unity form are transmitted to the young through the associa- tions and activities at Montreat. This transmission and the recruit- ment of marriage partners for the ne.t generation facilitates the separate continuity of this culture even though its members live much of the year as scattered units. Full understanding of the phenomenon of Montreat depends on integration and a composite perception of the five foci described in the previous paragraph. This study has the goal of describing the aspects of coimnunity and their linkages in such a way that this understanding is made explicit. CmPl'ER 1 PRESBYTERIAN caM-JNITIES IN TtE SOUTH 1750-1S90 Montreat as a locus of religious conference activity was acquired by the Southern Presbyterians in 1907, but long before this date there were gatherings of Presbyterian families in che summer. A long-standing custom of "homecomings" in rural churches across the Piedmont South set the stage for the ?am.e type of gather- ing to occur among those who as the region industrialized, separated over a wide space and adopted urban life styles „ During the American colonial period and throughout the nineteenth century, the community among Presbyterians was roughly co-terminous with the congregationo The full round of activities necessary to comprise a total community were present o All essential element?, including economic and jural, were handled within the bounded Presbyterian congregation^ Links to other congregations were forged in joint meetings, kin visiting, and exchange of marriage partners. The form of expression of these elements was altered by the intro- duction of industry and che increase of commercialism around 1890 (Cash, 1941), The following paragraphs briefly describe agrarian communiuy form as it existed among Piedmont Presbyterians between the years 1790- 1S90, against the background of the migration from Scotland and Northern Ireland and the settlement in the colonies. This 6 description and the tracing of migrations are necessary antecedents for the understanding of the present day comiirjnity,, The Scotch-Iri,sh as a Cultural E_ntit;^ Any discussion of southern Presbyterians mast begin vjith the nature and role of the Scotch-Irish„ This label was coined in the American colonies to denote certain Scotsmen who had migrated from their homeland in 1610 to the Ulster Plantation in NcrLhern Ireland, and x^7ho subsequently moved to the American coJouies between 1710 and 1790 (Leyburn 1962). The settlers in Ireland were known simply as Scots „ At first in America they were called Ulster Scots or Ulstermen and later, Scotch-Irisho It is important to establish at this point that the Scotch- Irish considered themselves a special people ^ different and set apart by history and religion, first from their Irish hosts, and then from the English colonists. They did not mix freely with either group and held a strong sense of th-air own peoplchood, defined by Gordon (1954) as a prime ingredient in the maintenance of ethnicity, A Sense of Peoplehood The glories of this separate entity were proclaimed by a special society. Three consecutive m.eetings were held in 1883- 1890 of The Scotch-Irish Society of America, composed of descendants of the original j.mmigrants. The sense of peoplehood shared by these descendants is clear in their accolades to one another and their enumeration of the accomplishments of illustrous members (Scotch- Irish Society of America, 1889) „ The scparateness of the Scots from their Irish neighbors during the years of the Ulster Plantation further demonstrates their ax^jareness or themselves as a group set apart, Lcyburn (1962) points out that little, if any, intenr^rriage with the Celtic Irish occurred during the one hundred years of Scottish colonization of Northern Ireland, The fact that the Scots were devout Presbyterians and the Irish were Catholics reinforced the ethnic identity of both groups. (Leyburn 1962). In the colonies the Ulster Scots found thsTTisclves i.\ the presence of an English aristocracy dominated by Anglicans and of laws militating against free practice of their dissenting religion. During the early colonial period in North Carolina, for instance, no marriage was legal unless celebrated by an Anglican clerg^nrnn (Binlcley, 1944) « Under the stress of such measures, when Presbyterian congregations were formed, they were extremely cohesive and separate » The entire migration to the At?iGrican continen.: lias been described by Scotch-Irish historians as havir; been religiously motivated. There were strong economic motives as i.-ell, but the shared sense of peoplehood was augmented by the desire to escape from alternate persecutions bj? both Anglicans and Catholics *, Regarding the feelings of the colonists about their exit from North Ireland, Dickson (1966) states the followLng: "To the emigrants the wilderness became an ocean and Moses an Ulster Scot" (p. 12)^ Present-day Presbyterians in Moatreat, who claim descent from this great m.igration, describe themselves as coming from Scottish ancestry and ignore completely the Irish hundred years. Others whose ancestor entered later from Ireland give their background as Irish, qualified by the name of the county or tOT-m in Northern Ireland to distin?,uish themselves from the Catholic Irish, Still others identify historically with the early entering ancestor liiiaself and with his trials in America as a mc:uber of a dissenting religious group = The descendants of the original entering group are now the core of the Southern Presbyterian Churcho Their unity is obvious and tightly knit, and they see themselves as a separate entity from other Presbyterians of other regions. The official narae of the Southern regional church is the Presbyterian Church in the United States, but it covers an area of only fourteen states in the South. Montreat Presbyterians i-efer to the Presbyterians in all other regions as members of "the Northern church." In tracing the migration into the colonics and looking at the distribution of Presbyterian churches and villages, this feeling of being a part of a circumscribed group V7ili be further understood. Migration and Bistribution of Presbyterians in the Colonies The original migration of Iov7land Scots was to Northern Ireland between 1608 and 1620 at the instigation of the English Ki.ng, James I, himself a Scoto In order to control the warring Celtic tribes. he had confiscated large land holdings and given these to English noblemen who then turned them into baronies and invited settlement. According to rlill (1877) five counties in Northern Ireland--those of Armagh, Tyrone, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Cavan- — x^eve settled alm.ost entirely by Lowland Scots. By 1715 the population of Northern Ireland, knotm as Ulr.tcr Plantation, is estimated to have included about 200,000 Prei;byterian3, Lowland Scots (Dickson, 1966). The villagers went to the Ulster Plantation in groups of families, sometimes accompanied by their pastor, and built farms on the same pattern tliey had kno-^^m in Scotland. A neighborhood of farmsteads would be connected to the central two or three village houses by country lanes and at the heart of the village ueighboxhood V7ab the Presbyterian church or Kirk, V7hich appeared with the earliest dwellings (Bolton, 1910). After one hundred years of relative success in the Ulster Plantation, the Scots began a general exodus to America., This was brought about economically by the enforcement of "rac!;-rcnting." absentee landlordism, in an attempt by the English nobles to squeeze greater profits and by the passing of Navigation Acts by Parliam.cnt to quell trade. In addition, religious pressure? had been added to the economic oneso Political harrassruent was increasingly felt by the Presbyterians, whose growing strength provoked the ■'.•Trath of the Established Church (Leyburn, 1962). Movement into the American colonies begaa in 1710 by groups of families in a similar pattern to the Northern Ireland migration, accompanied often by the parish minister (Revill 1968). Settlem.ents were established beyond the cities of debarkation--Philadelphia, Boston, and New Castle, Pennsylvania, and in the South at New Bern, Charleston, and Savannahs The only migrants who stayed in cities were those who had individually indentured themselves to seirve town fam.ilies» These were mainly single men (Dickson 1965). The others moved along in the congregational groups into the Susquehanna Valley first, and later through the Shanandoah Valley and into the Carolina Piedm.oat. \sTiere the trail began in Pennsylvania, settlements, farms, and churches bear the place-names of the Irish places of origin-- Octarara, Donegal, Pequa, Derry, and ParcLang. Congregations in the 10 Shenandoah Valley also are named for places, but more often local landmarks and Biblical locale: than for places in Ireland and Scotland. The earliest meeting house in Virginia is the Augusta Stone Church, followed by ForV.-of-the-James Meeting House, Tinkling Spring Church, Mossy Creek Church and the Bibl icallyinppired Sethcl, Mt . Caniicl, Mt . Zion, and Mew Providence. All of these early Virginia churches were situated in the open countryside surrounded by the graveyard fur the congregation, spatially uniting the living and dead. Each sat at the center of a neighborhood of individual farms owned individually and operated with seasonal co- operative effort with one's neighbors and kin. The local congregation 'was bounded by the area gathering each Sunday for worship services and for ceremonials such, as comn'.union, baptism., and periodic weddings and f uncra 1 s . The influx cf settlers from Northern Ireland and the rapid movement of colonists from early settlements into the frontier couutr^' of the Piedmont caused the population of Scotch-Irish on the Piedmont to swell. In 1775 Leyburn places the numbers in the vicinity of 100,000 (1952, p. 213). Secondary migrations were directed at East Tennessee, North Alabama and North Georgia (a part of the Piedmont) and at the grassy cattle country of North Florida and East Texas. The same pattern was followed as earlier, with the church nam^es in these locales reflecting the nam.es of the home church of the settlem.ent group of families. A Stone Church is found in Oconee County, South Carolina, composed of descendants of members of the Augusta County, Virginia, original. Nearby is a Mt. Carmel Church named for a mother church also in Augusta County (Brackett, 11 1905) . Fanilies from the churches at Rocky River ?.nd Sugar Creek in Mecklenbcrg County, North Carolina, migrated in the "beehiving" pattern into North Alabama and founded churches there, as well as into Eas^t Texas. This pattern of branching out by family clusters is discussed at length by G^«ley (1949) and given extensive documentation in use of land tract deeds, grants, and county records. The migration pattern of beehiving is one in which related younger nuclear famlies of a community move out in groups to form a daughter conmunity--in this case a daughter congregation. Presby- terian coiamunities divided in this fashion in a pattern congruent with the Celtic "stem family" tradition. In the European stem family tradition, one offspring remains ^dth the family land and the others all marry into trades, into ownership of other farms, or "travel." Those who traditionally travel go into the priesthood or to the USA. The American version of this, as expressed in evidence from colonial Presbyterian history, is the movement out into unsettled frontier areas by clusters of married siblings and cousins to establish new Presbyterian communities. Binkley (1944) suggests that areas chosen for settiem.ent xvere closely related to traditional famdng concepts and methods of cultivationo He describes farming cecrmiques as connected with political proclivities of the Scotch-Irish in the followit^g way: As expert woodsmen these migrants judged soil by the type of timber it bore. They accordingly shunned the prairies of the old Northvzest on the erroneous assumption that they vere undesirable as the Southern pine barrens o In any case their primitive plows could not have broken the stubborn turf, and thus nature determined a northern boundary of Jacksonian Democracy so decisively thar "in Illinois a m^p 12 of party groupings looks like a map of the original forest aud prairie areas with the glacial lobe extending from Lake Michigan clearly visible o" (Binklcy 1944, p» 122) In the South such a distribution raap made for Presbyterian congre- gations vjould show similar distribution according to soil and farming methods. It would show heavy settlement in the present states of Virginia (the Valley and foothills), North and South Carolina (Piedmont areas), Tennessee except for the mountains, and North Georgia o The South Georgia swampy country was bypassed for the North Florida ridge, where farming was good and cattle thrived. Scattered dots would appear in the areas of North Alabana and East Texas. The first six states above continue to be strongly Presby- terian and contribute a majority of the members of the present day summer community at Kontreat » An accompanying map. Figure I, gives a representation of the Southern region with migration destinations indicated. Presbyterian Communities in the Piedmont Region The pattern of migration and settlement of Presbyterian Scotch- Irish through the Virginia Valley and on the Piedmont grew out of Angle-Saxon and Celtic cultural antecedents o Kimball and Arensberg (1965) note a one-to-one correspondence between a culture and its accompanying coraraunity form» According to this assumption, the retention of these two aspects of a society go hand in hand. Retention of coamunity form, then, or of its essential ingredients is an integral part of the passing on of cultural tradition. This line of reasoning leads to the necessity for a discussion of both culture and of coiimunity among the early Scotch-Irish colonists. 13 WAVE T Elrx'ity vvt PVli)5dc\pM\Q To 5\,vsc;uieV.cir\na Vadcy 1710-1720 thvoug'n 1720- 1740 Vs/AVE 3 1740- 1790 Figure tQlh^A\^i5ricov\ Colonics I7i0'1790 14 The agrarian life pattern brought from Lowland Scotland to Northern Ireland and to the colonies is seen here as a prototypical form against which the current version of community and cultural expression will be examined. Economy, political arrangements, family, religion, education, and links to the outside are the elements of community organization which will be treated as a background to that which follows in the suimner community of Montreat. Because it lies at the basis of the farming life, the economy will be discussed initially. Economy and Settlement Pattern The economy and settlement pattern of Lowland Scotland in the seventeenth century are associated with the culture area of Europe described by Arensberg and Kimball (1965) as Atlantic Fringe. Elements of a second culture area, that of People of the Plains, are also present. The Celtic, Atlantic Fringe heritage is seen in a number of cultural practices. A large number of practices and types of groupings among the Lowland Scots are also typical of the adjoining culture area of the English Midlands and East Anglia, associated with the People of the Plains. The mixture of these two traditions among the early Scottish Presbyterians is significant because the two traditions persist in the contemporary community of Presbyterians at Montreat 360 years later. Celtic tradition, as described by Arensberg, includes a settle- ment pattern of scattered, dispersed farms based on single family agriculture. Social organization is based on nuclear families tied together in a bilateral kinship pattern in which descent is traced through a lineage system. All descendants of an apical ancestor share a common loyalty. Politically, the family alliances are knit 15 together in.o a tribal hegemony. The Irish tribes and the Highland Scot clans were known by the English in the Seventeenth Century as the "Wilde Irish" and the ""oarbaric Scots" (McLeod 1967). Religion and magic in this culture includes the sanctification of old age, fairy and witch cults, and a magic connected to rural places of worship, a "sacred grove." In contrast to the Celtic tradition. East Anglia and the English Midlands have a distinctly different tradition, which is also seen in Lowland Scotland- that of the People of the Plains. In this pattern one finds repeated villages in which co-operation is practiced in regard to agriculture and husbandry and the villagers share political control as a community of equals. For Thirteenth Century England, Romans (I960) describes these villagers as open field farmers. The two patterns of agriculture of the Plains and the Atlantic Fringe traditions are called champ ion- open fields and compact viUages- and voodlands-dispersed settlement and closed fields. In addition to central England and Lowland Scotland, the champion pattern is found in the Germanic-Saxon areas of the North European Plains to the Urals (Champagne, Picardy, Flanders , Denmark, Southern Sweden). Woodlands, closed-fields patterns are associated with Normandy, Brittany, Cornwall, the Irish uplands, Devonshire, and Essex. In Scotland the Highland families of pure Celtic stock and the Lowland villagers were tied together by kinship alliances and polit- ical treaties in an arrangement of promised allegiances for defense and economic purposes. These net.«.rks and alliances extended outward to the towns on the coast and into the neighboring English country- side. The links were activated for purposes of assistance in 16 emigration into Ireland and the colonies, as groups of interrelated families moved together with the assistance of friends and family near the coast or in port towns. During the centuries immediately preceding migration, the Celtic and Saxon mixture of the Scottish Lowlands was overlaid by English feudalism. English nobles owned vast amounts of lands which \jas divided up into tenancies. Local gentry, the Lairds, had the responsibility of managing the tenancies and supervising the actual farming operations of the tenants. Deeply engrained small farmers, the "kindly tenants," had lived on the same ancestral lands for generations and were interrelated with one another and with the Lairds. Exchange of services and a proportion of the crop were given as "rent" en the land. Those too poor to own the necessary farming equipment and animals became joint tenants, sharing oxen and a plow. Sometimes the household was also shared, and a third class of tenants, those known as sub-tenants, might live in the house as hired laborei's to one of the above classes. The sub- tenants were also knoxjn as cotters or laborers and received a house or room and a garden in return for farm work. Leyburn (1962) suggests that it was the kindly tenants who made up the bulk of the migration to Ulster and later to the colonies. These were hardest hit by the system of rack-renting discussed in relation to the history of the migration. The kindly tenants were reluctant, according to this source, to lower themselves to becoming joint tenants or laborers but at the same time could not pay enforced set rents on the land. Their tradition of landholding was that of 17 inheritance from father to son, with a high value oh careful husbandry. This tradition fits with data on land-holding and on values relating to the land that are reported from colonial history of the Scotch- Irish people (Bolton, 1910-, Dickson, 1966). The pattern of settlement in the Lowlands had included tenant houses being built near one another in villages with the land of each farmer separated from that of others by strips of common land. This settlement pattern was altered by the move to the colonies, because each farmer was noxs? given an allocation of acreage for his oim family „ Houses \atters, the congregational discipline was diminished in importance. The church session has continued to be important, however, in roatters of personal conduct and family behavior. Members of a congregation can be reprimanded or asked to resign from church office or from the pastorate if the Session finds them guilty of offensive behavior. Family Organization of the Scotch-Irish The Biblical world view at the heart of the Reformed tradition places the family V7ithin an ordered universe of which God is the Fathero Family fits into a predictable cycle of events in which the natural world is cared for by man and conserved for his childreno Regularity of recurrent yearly seasons and agricultural events is at the base of the seasonal cycle of the activities of farm iife„ In comparing the world view of the Scots to the Hebrews of Old Testam.ent times, Leyburn gives this description; , „ . The veracity of the Bible was attested by its icimadiate applicability to life. The Hebrc\7s of the Old Testament had been much like the Scots in their constant warfare, their pride j their precarious life in a poor country with dangerous neigh- bors, their struggle against idolatry (for "Baal" read "popery"). The very images of the Scriptures applied as much to Scotland as to Palestine: the shepherds, flowers of the field, mighty fortresses, the woman who had lost a coin^ Scots were no more seafarers than the Hebrews; yet they fished, as did the men of Galilee, and they knew the danger of sudden squalls blowing down on their lochs ^ (Lcyburu 1961, p.. 75) Old Testament family imagery fits equally well with the Lowland Scot culture. In this Biblical ideal t^^^e, the father is head of the house, the ideal is to have nany sons, the barren woman is pitied, daughters are considered a comfort to their m.othcr, and a man's sons adopt the family trade or take over the Irmd and flocks, with eldest having preference „ A man's father and mother are to be honored and cared for in old age. The nuclear family unit among the Scotch- Irish was augmented ir. the extension of kinship ties outward through both the mother's and father's line in a bilateral kindred. The domestic unit might consist of the married couple, the parents of husband or wife, and the unmarried n children. Important in the family structure of the Highland Scots and Celtic Irish vas the lineage, or clann-a Gaelic vord meaning "children of"--in which descent is reckoned by a group of persons having a conmon ancestor. Fox (1967) points out that vhereas the Celts vere organized on the ancestor-focused descent group principle, the Teutonic and Saxon peoples were organized along the ego-focused "sib" or kindred. Lowland Scot culture is a blend of two basic European traditions. Both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon traits appear in the kin and family of the Lowlanders in the cultural matrix which we have called Scotch- Irish and Presbyterian. Forms of the family and the two important organizational threads become visible in the types of church meetings and gatherings held in the eighteenth and nineteenth century Piedmont Presbyterian churches, emphasizing the ego-focused kindred and honoring past ancestors at the head of extensive descent groups. Family as the household of God was extended to include the congregation of related families who often had migrated together. Due to the migration pattern of branching off by a group of nuclear families to travel to new territory, the family of God reached over the South and into East Texas, Reunions of those living within driving or riding distance and the summer kin visits kept scattered congregations in touch and offered possible Presbyterian mate choices for young people in isolated regions. All the families within the Presbyterian greater family were united by their view of the world based on their Calvinistic heritage. Church and religious observances gave meanings to the daily lives of the Scotch-Irish community. 22 Religion--the Tradition of the Covenanters One of the revered traditions often mentioned in the older church histories is that of the Covenanters, a word used for groups of Scottish Reformers during the days of John Knox. These Reformers placed heavy emphasis on \^itten documents, creeds, doctrines, and instruments of worship. Within the first ten years of the Presbyterian movement in Scotland five of these documents had been added to John Calvin's original Institutes of the Christian Religion. Together these six writings formed the credal architecture of the emerging church. They include the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Book of Discipline, the Book of Common Order, the Acts of the General Assemblies, and the Acts of Parliament. In order to ..ssure the loyalty of supporters, the reform groups adopted an old Scottish custom of making "bands" to seal allegiance. Hewiston, the historian of the Covenanters, describes these as solemn religious compacts to support a common goal (Hevjiston, 1913). In this case the covenants or bands were signed by groups of nobles, groups of reformist priests, or other followers who promised to be loyal to the credal statements. Those having signed one of these agreements were kno.^ as Covenanters, and later the entire dissenting group became knovm by this term. Meetings for the purpose of signing the bands were held in the forest-in the tradition of the "sacred grove"-and secrecy was maintained for protection from the authorities. Admission was gained only by presenting an identifying token to show that the possessor was one of the inner group. This token continued to be used in the form of a communion token in Presbyterian congre- gations until late in the nineteenth century as a sign that the holder 23 had passed an examination given by the Session on theology and belief o At Montreat a similar practice perc'istcd until a few years ago in the form of presentation cf gate tickets by cottage owners and conference people as a sign that they belonged inside the conur.unity „ In the Covenanter tradition two important themes are vyelded-- that of the people of God as recipients of the Covenant of Grace given by Him and that of the centrality of credal statements and set doc- trines « The emphasis on doctrinal pronouncements necessitates in turn the education of the Elders and ministers for proper interpre- tation and of all the congregational members in order to read and understand the Bible and Catechismo The congregation is the repository of the Covenant, standing in a relationship of community xvith all other Presbyterian congregations and in a historical tradition in which many saints have gone before in the ancestral path, Faniil3/ stands v;ith congregation and coiunanity as of prim.'ry significance in receiving and passing on the Covenant of Grace. Education The structuring of the church's educational enterprise is linked to the structure of the church government o The local pulpit was the primary focal point of religious indoctrination in early- congregations , with the Bible as textbook and the ministoi^ as the instrument of revelation. The emphasis on individual Bible reading as a means of receiving the Holy Spirit made it necessary from, the earliest days to provide a congregational school to supplement Sunday morning preaching services „ The minister taught youngsters to read and to recite the I"7e5tirinster Catechis^n, which contains 24 the interpretations of Scripture and of the tenets of Calvinism. In order to become ordained and thereby qualified to teach the young and to administer the sacraments, the minister had to attend theological seminary so that he himself V70uld be well versed in the right interpretations of scripture and doctrine. This emphasis on education of the clergy is cited by many historians as a primary cause of the breaking away of many congregations into the more revivalistic religions of the frontier during the period of the Great Awakening of 1740 and the later revival period of the 1780* s. The preaching of the Methodists and Baptists attracted many as the frontier expanded, and the Presbyterian seminaries could not keep up with the demand for educated pastors (Binkley 1944, Sweet 1950). A quote from Levourn expresses the gradual drain and the resulting situation. Before the arrival of the Scotch-Irish, Presbyterianism in America had naturally reflected the usages of its predominantly English congregations. By 1789, however, a majority of people in the church had a background of Ulster and Scottish Presby- terianism. As the Baptist and Methodist churches increasingly dregs' away those who set little store by tradition, the Presbyterian Church came to reflect the strict practices of true-blue Calvinism. (1962, p. 287) These "true-blue Calvinists" established academies throughout the South to train young men for the ministry and for law and medicine. The model for all subsequent Presbyterian schools was the first one established, the Log College at Princeton in 1746. This was followed by the founding of Hampden-Sydney in 1776 by the Shenandoah Valley and Piedmont Presbyterians. Others followed — Timber Ridge Academy, later Washington & Lee University; the Log College of North Carolina which later became Davidson College; 25 and Liberty Holl in Charlotte vhica v/as to be Queens College of North Carolina. „ Candidates for the ministry were sent on to the seminary at Princeton or to Edinburgh if funds permitted. Examination of church histories reveals that the educational requirements for ministers and the high esteem given to Elders as the interpreters of the faith runs continuously through the official document So At the turn of the twentieth century the Southern Presby- terian Church remained intact, consistent and moderate, peopled v;ith descendants of the original settlers, pastored by men educated at Princeton and the newer Southern seminaries „ The list of names of pastors of the churches of the Mecklenburg Presbytery in North Carolina during the first 150 years of habitation reflects a continuous pattern of interrelated families whose ancestors ai-e buried in one of the graveyards, whose sons would grow up to pastor one of the neighboring churches, and whose daughters would marry each others' sons to continue the tradition of stalwart Calvinism (Spence 1954; McGeachy 1954; Sommerville 1939). The linkages these congre- gations had were expressed interacticnally in joint meetings and homecomings ^ Joint Meetinc;s, Church Homecomings, and Kin Gatherings The local rural Presbyterian church of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries was the vjeekly gathering place for the people of scattered farmsteads and crossroads villages to Xv/orship and exchange news ^ Meetings lasted all day and included preaching, dinner on the grounds, singing and praying under the trees, chatting, and playing of children^ Churches without a pastor might meet with other neighboring congregations or share a traveling pastor who would 26 spend two Sundays a tuonth at each congregation. During the absence of a pastor, church affairs and congregational discipline v.ere handled by the Elders, vho also could conduct Sunday services and pr.ach although they v.ere not permitted to ad.dnister the Sacranents or to perform marriages. Joint meetings between tv.o or more congregations were corr^.only held in the spring or fall to hold the celebration of the Lord's Supper. If a congregation had no pasror it joined with a neighboring group. This bi-yearly ceremonial lasted for three or four days and included an examination of each communicant by th. Session on his belief and cominitment. Tokens were administered to those vmo had successfully passed the inquiry, and the tokens were turned in upon receiving the sacrament. Other activxti,.s accompanying the celeb-a- ' tion were fasting on the day before con^ion, visiting wi.h others, and a dinner in the grove after the worship service, Leyburn gives this description of holy communion in the Eighteenth Century Presbyterian churches, Vhere congregations were without a ^'^"^ ' ^^!^i:^ frequently traveled many miles to participate; tne.e visxta i;hi!ltir.irr;LrKSf ^: s:. Kf s ~t:s :==- .{?iS»EE Lis- might take place in the open axr, T..e b....Q c.n. v Tl°ce6 upon lon^ tables, which somecxmas extended ^o^rnthe l-Xs f?om pui;it to door. To these tables were admitted n;;e\.h; Md'not previously received tokens from the Session, as evidence of their right to -nmune , ^^^^^^^ _^^^^ ^^ ^^ .^ Through the years, this tradition of gathering for biennial con.union grew into a custom of having all the -sons and daughters of the congregation- come back for the co™m.nlon service held in :^:ay. 27 In son;e churches this was knovm as "congregational homecoming" and later as the "church homecomings" At this time all those v;ho had been born into and brought up in the congregation returned vith their husbands or wives and families to visit relatives, parents, and friends » Older people who were from afar bat whose parents and ancestors were buried in the church graveyard would also rrake the pilgrimage and visit the remaining kin„ In many churches a day of joint effort at cleaning the graveyard preceded the day of the meet- ing, and during the preaching and praying the deceased ancestors were mentioned and honored. The saBie type of gathering has been studied in the Appalachian Highlands by Simpkins (n. d.) for a Pentecostal Holiness conumunity cf Scotch-Irish ancestry. In this cormirunity the gathering is kno.m as a "graveyard reunion." The past honored dead who are heads of families are given the place of honor in the graveyard. Spatially this is expressed in the grave- yard by burying the family head and his wife ^f.tb all their children, stretched out at their feet. The timing of these ceremonials was closely connected to the agricultural cycle. Three different times have been noted for the annual homecoming gathering among the Piedmont Presbyterians. One time is early V^y "after the roads are passable." Another is Augu-t "after the crops are laid by" (planting is completed and the crops are growing), and a third is October "before the cold weather sets in." The homecoming was a religious meeting in that communion was celebrated and pre..ching occurred, but it was not a revival in th. evangelistic sense. In the frontier revival associated with 28 Methodist ond Baptist traditions, emphasis was placed on saving the unsaved„ In the May and October meetings emphasis ..as on reviving the already saved people of God. holders of Kis promises and Covenant. The May Meeting is still held at many rural churches. One such meeting vas described to me by a former pastor of the Rocky Blvcr Presbyterian Church in the Mecklenberg area of North Carolina. It is said by members to provide food for the social, spiritual, and physical parts of nan, with the latter represented by elaborate homecooked dishes provided by participating women. For the dinner on the grounds after the worship service, each family has a separate table for the larger family, between twenty and thirty people. Everyone brings food and eats it by family groups, then the men and the women gather to discuss news and politics with age mates while the children play freely in adjoining meadows with cousins and friends. The May Meeting has both social and religious sisnificance, as pointed cut in the official history of that rural congregation. The May Meeting not only reflects the joy of the treasured feasts of llrael, but stands as an earnest of that unxnterruo.ea :Serin. around the Father's table, when the saxn.. or .11 ales shall drink anew of the fruit of the vine xn tne bUss . Ifngd^m of .heir Redeemer. It is not only a ^-^"-^^^/^^^J,, the days of Alexander Craighead, John Makemxe Uxison .nd Danxel tne aayo ox .t-j-cao o ^-;„p nhen thev. ana tnose Tindlev . . but a prospecr of the time w.^en t:ne/, — i of Godo (Spence 1954, p. 168) The May Meeting, or church homecoming, is an occasion in which the past, present, and future are sy^olically united into a ceremonial restatement of collective beliefs and values. Significantly, it in- cludes an important em.phasis on kinship and on the family group 29 desce.nc'ec! from revered Presbyterian forbearers, all joined together Into the faraily of the faith. In its enactment the themes 1033/ be observed which have been elabcrated as components of the Scotch- Irish tradition. In the same manner the communal gathering at Montreat may be examined for its symbolic statement of beliefs and values. Within the structuring of activities and events of the summer- long equivalent of the May Meeting is seen an enactment on the coiranunity level of the culture coiitent of Presb^ terianismo Community and Culture Among Early Presbyterians The traditional comm.unity form expressed in values, cultural practices, and types of groupings is presented in Table I. This representation presents in tabular form the ways in which the culture-comm.unity congruency was exhibited in the period 1790- 1890 „ Disturbance came to the economic base in 1S90, V7ith rising industrial and commercial centers and the era of the mill tovms. This disturbance x^;as acconipanied by a change in settlement patterns from farm into to^-m and city, accomipanied by changes in mechanisms for social control„ These mechanisms, fornierly handled by the con- gregations were taken over by public jural institutions „ Other changes followed in family, religion, and education appropriate to new environments o Essential elements of agrarian pattern retained by the Presbyterian summer community at Montreat are the family organi:^ation, the religion and world-viex^7. and the means of social- izing the young into family and churchy A description of these three aspects of the contemporary summer community is presented in the following pages as a demonstration of the retention of certain core ele:i:euts in the Scotch-Irish culture^ The circanistancco of the 30 TABL5 PRESBYrErllAN CCMMUMITY FOllM 17S0-1890 Cultural Systems Values and Beliefs 1, Economic Man is a stev7ard of the world for God and as such must take care of resources. Success is an evidence of good stewardship. 2. Political and Social Control 3o Family and Kin 4o Religion 5. Education 6, Links to the OuT:side Final moral authority exists. Creeds and Book of Discipline are its repositoryo Family is locus of learning and of receiving the Covenants Ancestors hand dox^m the faith from generation to generation. Sovereignty of God (Order) . Salvation by Grace (Flesh is weak, Spirit is more holy). Church is the Elect (Covenant Coramunity) ., Emphasis on Bible and creeds requires literacy fcr all. Educated clergy essential for right interpretations. Congregation is locus of the covenant, linked to all other congregations of the Elect as the People of God, halves and beliefs are taken from Calviniscic world view, t/aich is discussed in detail in a later section regarding the world view of the contemporary Presbyterians. 31 TABLE I extended Cultural Practices Forms of Groupings Farming economy ^^7ith both cattle and crops. Co-operation with neighbors, alliances with mercantile and shopkeepers. Scattered open-country farmsteads with church at center, scattered villages at crossroads. Towns linked to countryside by commerce. Congregation handled its own disciplinary problems. Session acted as church court. Monogamy for life (no divorce) . Old are revered. Inheritance of family farm by children. Church life center of community social life. Prayers at home and church. Series of ascending courts in progression of greater authority up\'7ard to General Assembly. Nuclear family residential unit. Gatherings of several generations to honor ancestors. Cousin visiting. Marriage within Presbyterian group. Congregational worship service, dinner on the grounds , church homecoming. Individuals sent to school and if possible to college. Ministers attended seminary at Princeton or in Scotland. Church school with pastor as teacher. Presbyterian colleges with faculty who are all Protestant. Congregation moved in groups to nexv' territory. If individuals V7ent alone it was only temp- orarily. Families remained in touch along lines of kinship. Joint meetings with other con- gregations. Representatives to Presbytery and to Synod. Home- comings and family reunions. Merchants traded with the outside, 32 founding of Kontrcat are relevant here as a preface, in order to demonstrate the fashion in vhich Montreat follows in the church hcmccoming tradition through the facilitating of linkages between congregations and at the same time provides the locale for a rite of intensification^ CmPTER 2 THE MONTREAT CCS^IMUNITY Montreat was founded in 1907 as a retreat center for members of the Southern Presbyterian church. It has drawn the majority of participants from the areas of original Presbyterian settlement and has attracted back into its fold many sons and daughters who moved away. The summer long gathering has characteristics of a church homecoming as well as of a local congregation. In the forms of community expressed, Montreat represents a periodic restatement of those values and groupings essential to the preservation of a culture whose agrarian economy has been modified. This chapter gives a purely ethnographic description of the present community, within the context of its history. History of Montreat as a Ceremonial Groimds Montreat was established as a conference center during the period of rapid change in the South from an agrarian to an urban economic base. Records of the founding of the conference center indicate that this was seen as following in the tradition of the gathering of God's people, familiar from the rural homecomings. The purchasing committee was composed of Elders and ministers appointed as a committee of the General Assembly. These met in the Session room of the First Presbyterian Church of a booming millto\7n in the Piedmont to close the purchase of property. Montreat' s original owner was an interdenominational 33 34 organization which had held summer tent meetings at the site for eight summers. As historical background, this early period has relevance to the later period of Presbyterian ownership. Older informants in the summer community remembered the days of the interdenominational camp meeting revivals. Then a large tent served for the preaching meetings with smaller tents surrounding it for individual families to camp. A kitchen tent was pitched over a wooden platform where everyone gathered for meals. Famous evangelists vere invited and often preached in the tent meetings. Later a hotel was built and an all-purpose community building, which served as an auditorium in summer and in winter as a school for the year-round residents. Cheers and promoters of the original interdenominational corpora- tion-the Mountain Retreat Association-were all residents of New York, Connecticut, and Baltimore, and included real estate speculators as veil as other businessmen. Their stated goal was to develop the land in their holdings into a "model Christian connnunity" which would be year-round in nature and include only those individuals with the highest of morals and character (Mountain Retreat Association 1898). The charter received by this corporation from the State of North Carolina gave it the power to establish schools and roads that „ere tax-exempt due to the fact that they were "for the common good." The charter also prohibited forever the sale of intoxicating liquor on the premises (Anderson 1949). The origln.1 cmers «ere predominantly Northern Presbyterians and Congregationalists. and the meeting to buy the property in 1897 .as held in the Session room of UFayette Avenue Presbyterian Church 35 in New York. During the early years of trying to establish the ideal Christian community the developers' only real success was with the suiDiner ir.eetings. Gradually vacation houses began to appear and a permanent recurring sumaer population took hold by the early 1900' s. Many were Southern Presbyterians who had heard through church chr-.nncls about the high goals and fine moral character of the proposed develop- ment and its strict rules of abstinence, mien the corporation began to falter financially in 1907, after having changed iiuinagement several times, it was offered for sale to the Southern Presbyterians. One of the promoters of the transfer and of the mission of Montreat during the next fifty years was the minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Gastonia, North Carolina, a heavily business and mill-dominated Presbyterian area. His constituents in the industrial world, and other pastors in similar situations, became enthusiastic with him about the possibilities of ovming a su:iimer conference center where Presbyterians could gather. This man became the second president of the Association under the Presbyterian Church, a post he held for thirty years. During his administration stone buildings appeared one by one, donated by businessmen and indus- trialists and carrying names of pious Presbyterian forbearers. In the official history of Montreat, the following passage explains why the property was acquired in 1907. It reflects the spirit which led a large number of concerned patrons to support it as a center for denominational ceremonial life. Montreat might be the revival of a long neglected Scriptural method to niake strong and more effective the I^ngdom oo. -og upon earth. From the dav of Moses to the day of Pentecost, 36 embracing the entire Bible period from Moses to the ascension of our Lord, under Divine direction and appointment, God's chosen people v/ere called together three times a year in one place. These meetings were Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. These three annual assemblies tor worship ran parallel with the Presbyterian fomi of government from the day of Moses until the end of the New Testament age. These assemblies . . . were of unspeakable value during the Old Testament period to unify, co-ordinate, instruct, and inspire God's chosen people . . . under the Divine order of things they were supplementary to the Presbyterian form of government and played just as important a part in promoting the interest of the Kingdom, as did the form of government. We Presbyterians have emphasized in our thought and doctrine the form of government; why have we so long minimized the practical value of its Biblical supplement, the three great annual popular meetings referred to above? . . . Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and our Lord made use of large assemblies in the mountains as one of the most effective m.eans to instruct, revive, and stimulate God's people to their noblest actions, (Anderson 1949, p. 20) The People of Montreat are the best people of our Church. They come from every section of the Cliurch and perhaps as a class rex5resent the cream of the churches. Separation from bad influences, the provision of the best spiritual food and spiritual environment, and association with one another are factors to aid our best people to live in the best way. (Anderson 1949, p. 25) Participants in the summer activities of the contemporary comin.unity continue to view Moncreat as a stabilizing force in their lives and those of their children. They refer to having one place that does not change and a place vhere they can get spiritual refreshment. Montreat 's location in a mountain cove and its physical arrangemencs facilitate isolation and lim.ited, select interaction gcuups. These aspects are dealt with next in the coi'.tLaunity descL-iption. 37 The Contemporary Setting Montreat separates itself from the world by a tall stone archway which residents call "the gate." When one enters the Montreat gate from the small town of Black Mountain one observes that this is the only road leading in, and that it ends in a mountain cove from which there is no other exit by car. Assembly Drive winds along a creek past Lake Susan, formed at the center of the valley floor by a concrete dam. The creek has its source at the top of Greybeard Mountain, at the top of the cove and the end of the Montreat property. Surrounding the lake are a number of two story grey stone buildings built by local craftsmen of local stone. The largest of these. Assembly Inn, is a hotel for conference guests and vacationers. Its appearance resembles a proud Scottish or north English stone castle standing guard over the conference center. Other buildings around the lake are used for conference hotels in summer and college dormitories in winter. One houses the Association business office, another is a gymnasium, and another serves as a coffee house for collegiate workers and is known as the Left Bank. The only modern- istic structure is Moore Center, a building which houses a bookstore and gift shop along with the snack bar and social center. To the rear of Moore Center on a circle off the main road stands the large auditorium where all conference meetings and worship ser- vices are held. The auditorium is circular in design with its internal support beams curving over in tent-like fashion, reminding the worshipper of the camp meeting tents in Montreat 's past. Other public assembly buildings are scattered along the roads nearby, housing 38 conference rooms, a chapel, a classroom building, and additional dormitories. The center of morning informal social exchange is a cypress and stone structure on a side road in which the Post Office, general store, and laundromat are housed. The attendants at each serve as unofficial news distributors and the bulletin board posts announcements . Summer houses line the road from the entrance all the way up to the Montreat Reservoir at the end of Greybeard Trail. Many of the houses are white frame construction with two stories and a large porch. They range from a log cabin built in 1909 to a contemporary octagonal house of 1971. Some are covered by shingles, others made of stone. All but a few are roomy and have at least four bedrooms, some having an additional guest house at the rear. In all, 403 houses line the valley road and the ridges, 318 being occupied by only summer people. Slimmer people refer to their houses as cottages, no matter how large, and to themselves as "cottage owners." The year-round people cluster in an area along a low ridge just off the main road on the side of the mountain which is said to get sunshine all winter long and to thaw out first in spring. Some ridge roads are inaccessible during winter, and others on the shady side of the cove have deep piles of snow and ice until very late in spring, concentrating the winter residents in a practical and closely bounded vicinity. The spacing of the roads and houses within the mountain cove is illustrated in Figure II. The topography of the ridges and valley has bearing on the social interaction of the cottage people attending summer activities. Those whose houses fall along the valley and creek roads are seen 39 Figurel TKel\Aontreat Cove 40 frequently at the large preaching meetings for conferences, at the sunmer Montreat Woman's Club, Garden Club, and Ministers' Forum. Valley people visit on the road or on the steps with neighbors and in small clusters at the Post Office. On the ridges, however, houses are perched atop dozens of steps and located on steep roads difficult to negotiate by car. Ridge people take advantage of their view of the surrounding mountains and valleys by sitting for long hours on their porches. Visiting takes place individually, with one friend who has braved the climb. One informant labelled the two types of Montreat cottage o^-mers as "creek people" and "view people." Families in the market for a house or looking for one to rent possess decided pref- erences for either ridge or valley. Within these two distinctions, there are more specific preferences for one or another neighborhood on a certain side of the ridge or in the valley floor. In addition to topography, other factors influencing the inter- action patterns of the population are the division of the community into year-round, conference, and cottage components and the various internal divisions of the cottage population itself. In order to understand fully the behavior and groupings of the cottage segment, which is the central focus here, it is necessary to see this segment against the background of the year-round group and in coexistence with the transient collegiate workers and conference participants. Year-Round People — Maintaining a Tradition A winter population of permanent residents maintains the infra- structure of practical services necessary for the summer gathering to occur. During the winter months the town of Montreat is composed of about 100 individuals. In addition, a Presbyterian college exists 41 within the same facilities utilized in summer by the conferences. The permanent residents are faculty members at Montreat-Anderson College, administrative staff, and retired ministers and missionaries. The conference planning is done by the staff of the Mountain Retreat Association, Inc., in charge of maintaining the conference center and making arrangements for summer programs. The college and the conference center share buildings, maintenance crews, and a business office staff. The t^TO have the same President. The same Board of Directors serves both by reconvening on a second meeting day as the college directors, after spending the first day as the Association directors. A third administrative structure serving the practical needs of town govern- ment is the To\%-Ti Council of the Town of Montreat, incorporated as a municipality only two years ago by the State of North Carolina. All three organizations share in the expense of road upkeep, garbage collection, and public improvements. Cottage owners pay taxes and service fees to the to\ s o 0 o o to FigureH Cchfcrenceand Hotel Reqlstration 9i Montreot Jwr\e - Aug. 1970 H Muh\fetr\Y> VAoY\1r«at Hoie\5 47 TABLE II. CONFERENCE-ATTENDERS BY STATE CF RESIDENCE State of Residence Number Per Cent 18.37 13.07 12.40 10.28 10.02 7.28 North Carolina 797 Georgia 567 Florida 538 South Carolina 446 Tennessee 435 Virginia 316 Sub Total 3099 Louisiana 263 Texas 196 West Virginia 130 Mississippi 99 Kentucky 87 Arkansas 82 Missouri 45 Maryland 25 Outside South 96 No Record 216 71.42 6.06 4.51 2.99 2.28 2.00 1.89 1.03 .57 2.21 4.97 Total Attending 4338 99,93 48 Presbyterian settlers from Scotland, Ireland and later from Virginia and the North Carolina Piedmont. Virginia Presbyterians have their own conference center at Massanetta Springs, which is organized with both conference dormitories and cottages in the same manner as the community of Montreat. Therefore, Virginians do not comprise a large proportion of the total here even though the state has a large Presby- terian population and was an original locus of settlement. Conference people and cottage people interact together only rarely. Although the conference participants are active church members, their emphasis on wide kin connections is considerably less than that of the cottagers. Those who know a cottage family from the home church will frequently drop in to visit or have coffee, but in general conference attenders remain within the planned program of activity and socialize with other individuals attending the same conference. One activity in which both conference and cottage populations take part is the Sunday morning worship service in the main auditorium. After the service the auditorium lawn becomes the gathering spot for greeting old friends and kinsmen, for visiting and for news exchange. The oldest and largest families sometimes remain until after one o'clock at this activity. Then the old fashioned dinner on the grounds is replaced by Sunday dinner at the Howerton Hall Cafeteria. The conference attenders spend Sunday afternoons sleeping, visiting vith some long lost friend in a cottage, or in recreational activities-Sunday swimming and tennis having been only recently permitted. Sunday evenings bring another worship service with preaching in the auditorium followed by a h>^ sing in the Assembly 49 Inn, vhen all the old gospel songs are requested. Conference and Cottage are joined on Sundays in their shared meanings associated with congregational worship and Sabbath-observance. Cottage-o^.Tiers--Preserving a Way of Life The process of gathering begins among cottage-owners in early June when the first house is opened for summer. Except for the Sunday morning and evening services cottage owners do not ordinarily attend conferences. Several older women who had been vacationing at Montreat all their lives told me that they had never registered for a conference. "Oh, we go down to the auditorium if there's a real good speaker or Bible lesson, but never to more than one or two sessions." The preferred activity of the vacationers is to rest and relax, take trips to nearby attractions, visit informally with kinsmen on porches, and entertain relatives and friends as house- guests. The average stay in cottages is a month, with a wide spectrum of practices ranging from all summer to only a few days. The most often noticed pattern was that of the mother coming to Montreat with the children at the beginning of summer, setting up summer housekeeping, and staying until mid-August when it was time to get ready for school again. The father of such a household would commute on weekends from Charlotte or Atlanta-even Houston in one instance-or would simply not appear until August for his two-week or month-long vacation. Some families came all together in July or August, a coupon practice among younger couples and couples in the ministry. Others in the older age group appeared at the first of June and entertained a constant stream of children and grandchildren all summer, staying on alone "until the leaves turn in October." 50 Residence These cottage-o\\ ShSxivnQ Ui \'\q-\tCS sllj^^ cr^A:U. o en % vl7 (0 s: o *-? t c O '1^ The Greater Family; Five or More Generations The family reunion or the "family picnic" is represented in the third descent group, seen in Figure VI. This consists of all the descendants of a common ancestor on the fifth or earlier ascending generation. At the Adkins family picnic v;hich is described here as it occurred in 1970, there V7ere members of five generations present, the oldest person being a secoad wife of one of the sons of the ancestor being honoredo The youngest person was a new infants The youngest on the fifth generation from the original ancestor was a little girl whose mother and great- grandmother were also present and x/nose great- grandmother could remember the honored ancestor from her ovm childhood. The family picnic of this greater family was held at a Presbyter} owned summer youth camp near Montreat. The camp facilities provided enough room for the eating arrangements and for adequate recreation for all the younger members. Preparations x:erc made by tv;c older merabers who have residences at Montreat» Arrivals began in early morning with three elderly women who served as organisers. The second group included an elderly woman who was later introduced as the oldest aunt. Arrivals continued until 12:30, just before lunch was served. The family historian was asked to give the blessing, and an older man in the grandpai-ental generation served as master of cereraonies. Fajnilies and households sat together at tables laden with food prepared by each mother. Gossip and news were exchanged, children ate quietly and yjolitely and waited until after the fonnal program to escape. The forniCi.1 program consisted nwinly of introductions. The 76 5 « o o i- C >. In one case this home belonged to a revered ancestor at the apex of a large descent group xvho had been a United States Congressman after having served as a Colonel in the Confederacy, The hone was na.med Stony Point, the same name appearing en the entry sign at the >k)ntreat house of one of the descendants. Other ancestral homes go back to Scotland and the Montreat house is named for that particular p lace- name- -Locl'imoran, Glen Eyrie,, and others a Family heads ofven m^ake the pilgrinmage back to Scotland to visit "the old houeplace,'' It is not uncomrion for fam.ilies to send their sons "back to Scotland" for graduate school, particularly to attend theological school at the University of Edinburgh, Many doctorate degrees among Southern Presbyterian ministers are from Edinburgh or St, .i^ndrews, and are predominately in Biblical studies or historical theology. Other popular spots for graduate study are Princeton Semir.arv- and Yale Divinity School, where numbers of grandfathers also did theological study. Aiiiong the f?.<^',llic5 selected for depth interview's about their 81 grandparents and preat- srandparemfs (occi'-pationj:= , carriages, schooling, and places of residence) Lwo pbenoui-na v;o.re notcworthvo One vas the astoui^diing clarity and recall .^ith vh'ch respondents could give me naraes, places, dates, and factual data on ancestors horn four generations ago and earlier. The other was the nu-uber of times respondents who were uncertain about some minor point or Liame- spelling would come back to seek rac out the next day or several additional times to make corrections. One respondent, after think- ing through the information she had provided, became concerned and wrote to the official family historian in Virginia, asking that he please send the accurate facts im.nediately so it would be '^right." Another person telephoned a husband in South Georgia asking that when he came to Hontrcat the following week, he please bring the family book along. A dignified and composed lady of eighty sat for hours with me on her porch going through family historical -i^terials on no less than seven generations of Laswells and Pcjell.s, :-ost of which she had filed away perfectly accurately in her head without referring to written records. Inheritance Another important aspect in addition to the recall and respect for family history is the emphasis on careful "stewardship/' of family monies and properties. Inheritance is haiaded do^-n co all siblings equally after the death of the second parents If property is involved one sibling nuay purchase the shares of others. Only the siblings may take part in the actual division of the household goods, as their spouses are stiU "outsiders*' regardless of years of marriage. It is considered extremely important to distribute 82 the sentimental goods first and equally--thcse include family cere- monial objects such as sterling silver v/hich has been used at special occasions, linens or china handed dovm from "Grc.at-grand-.iiother Nelson," antique items which nia-y have been in the family over many generations, the parents' wedding presents, and certain no-v/er pieces for \v'hich the children have established a fondness on the basis of continued usage. After the special familial ceremonial goods have been divided then the siblings get on with the work of dividing such mundane interests as money, stocks, and property » In every case investigated, the Montreat house v.-as left to all siblings equally with the provision that if one of them did not enjoy Montreat or preferred to sell, the others could buy out that sharCo The eldest son is placed in charge of these business matters and in charge of management tasks, although it is the daughters v.'ho oversee the first stage in che division. If th-ore are no daughters ("he sons handle the task alone. It would be con- sidered very poor tajte for a daughter- in- lav; to step in and assist at that delicate stage of decision-making. Inherited property is c>'pected to be retained, as are personal and fam.ily goods » The expected disposition of family inheritance m.oney is for som.e particular useful purpose or investment which will produce social caj.ital as well as the tangible type, and which can be carefully increased to pass on to the next generation^ This money is often referred to as "m.other's raoney" or as "some money from his mother." This same terminology would be used if the father were the second parent to die., Then the inheritance would be "John's father's money," A popular use for this money is to purchase a separate house at Montreat., Many youpger couples and thcise in their middle 83 years explained that the mother of one of the couple had specifically reqijested that her money be used for a Montrcat house. Other invest- ments that are acceptable include substantial furniture for a regular home, safe long-range investments that can be retrieved for children's education, or an educational trip. One man with several children vas in graduate school when his mother died leaving a substantial suti to each of three sons. VJhen the graduate student announced that he would use the extra cash so that his family "could eat for a while" he was admonished by the elder brother, "Richardl I can't believe you would spend m.other'o moneyl" Older people are generally careful to specify that they are saving every bit to pass on to their children, and tliat they have a great fear of having to bs a burden on their children during a long illness. The furnishings from the house of the deceased parent are many tines brought to Montreat and form the core of the household equipment. The m.o?t frequently seen is an old Victorian oak table and chairs, ample to seat many cousins. Chests, tables, large overstuffed chairs and beds are other items. One large Montreat house had a wall filled with pictures of the parents, grandparents, and ancestors, all brought from the grandmother's house to Montreat "for all rhe cousins to enjoy." Naming patterns Fsmil])- nam.es are the accepted ones for childreno At the "greater family" picnic described previously, the fam.ily historian announced that among the 275 descendants of the Colonel there v:ere 21 Davids 84 snd 31 Virginias, the names of the Colonel and his wife. The traditional accepted pattern is to begin by naming the first son the name of his father. If this \-jcto. John William Smith, the son vould be John William Smith, Jr. The next child, if a boy, \;ould be named for the wife's father, using the first and last names of this grandfather o A-s a tenn of reference and address, the grandfather's surname v.'Ould become the boy's given name. For example, if the \7ifc was Mary Wyatt and her father uas Richard Campbell Wyatt, the son would be named Richard Wyatt Smith and called "Wyatt." This produces a community of children carrying given names which are unfamiliar in 3 non- Presbyterian circles. Youngsters named in this \hasis are those of family history keeping, inheritance, and naming. These have been viewed as types of behavior representing a set of balanced reciprocal duties between dead ancestors, living descendants, and future generations deeply rooted in the lineage tradition o Also important in behavioral reciprocities are those expected and expressed between the contemporary living and interacting m.erabers of the kin group. These expected behaviors regard the formation of networks for suimer i.nteractioa and for year-round aid or assistance. Spatially the summer kin interaction.s are based in clusters of houses related through house- hold, family, and greater faniily. In winter the rights and obliga- tions attached to kinship emerge when other assi.stance and hospitality is provided, a topic to be discussed later. Summer house-clustering will bo described here as it reflects descent group m.embersh5.p. House- clustering The arrangemenc of houses along the roads of Montreat makes a tangible and observable statement of kin values. To the untrained eye the houses appear to be built and owned at i-andom^ by nuclear families with varying surnames. Upon close scrutiny, however, it becomes clear that the different surr.am.os obscu.re the actual 87 kin-relationships among groups of male and female siblings. Long rows of houses on certain ridges or along a valley road belong to married sisters or to a string of brothers and sisters. In other instances, the same surname appears scattered over a wide area, but investigation reveals that the houses belong to a set of brothers or paternally related cousins. The houses built near one another within the same kin group are most frequently those of brothers and sisters or sisters. In this case, the married- in males bring new surnames but are as- similated into the structure of the family of the wife. Brothers who retain close ties with their siblings do so frequently because they have married a girl who is from outside the tightly knit type of family. Even though a Presbyterian, she may belong to one of the families who "doesn't like to do this sort of thing." Or she may be from a Methodist or Baptist background but attended a Presbyterian college where she met and later married the husband. A close look at two roads in Montreat containing this type of house clustering reveals some of the predominant patterns of grouping by descent. One is North Carolina Terrace, where a cluster of nine cottages belongs to members of a descent cone on the four-generation family level, the original houses having been built around 1909 by four siblings of the Read family. Three other houses exist in other Montreat neighborhoods belonging to related members whose mothers were members of other kin groups. A map labeled Figure VII gives the spacing of each house, and the accompanying kin chart (Figure VIII) illustrates the relationship of each to the original builder, W. J. Read, the eldest brother of the siblings 88 / Clustej'ing of Mc/.ireat hloM^es by Dc^cen^ Gr^up: Gmup>n 89 ^0 \i,^.P>.cm\ /£\- ^\- -(^ ® A A- A^d)(2) A © 90 whose mother, "I'locher Read" had her o\-m cottage and held court over her dssceudauts until a few years ago when she died in old age. A second example of descent group placement of houses is seen in Uest Virginia Terrace, which has on it twelve houses of which eight are o'v\med by two sets of related descendants. Meiabcrs of each group oxm additional houses at greater distance (Figure IX) , Three groups are represented, since the octagonal group is in reality two descent groups linked by affinal ties. Together these three groups o\m twelve houses „ A kin relatedness chart for this group is presented in Figure Xo A third example is seen in the scattered pattern of o'v/nersnip in which five linked groups o\Tn together a total of fourteen cottages. This map and its accompanying kin pattern are shown in Figures XT. and XII, Kin groups represented in the three maps own a total of 3b houses,. Each one undoubtedly has affinal ties to other ownership clusters extending the entire total into an additional dozen distantly connected houses „ There are other large family groups not studied extensively. The five presented were the most frequently suggested to m.e by community members when I asked the open-ended question of "T'Jhich are the biggest families here at Montr eatT" For all the large families, additional relatives who do not own a cottage come to the Montreat house of their cousin or mother to visit and attend family reunions. One weary household head told me that on the weekend of the family gathering she had entertained eighteen relatives, all children and their spouses and the grand- children. 91 5p6em^ c\ Th'ree Dei:eevTV O^ouvs^-^Zy'^3, and 'M I = ^ toit ii - t>^Y/ Uoc»K e 92 IT ■0 d)^^ ^\ I 0T>^ DAY @=A (ii) OtA 93 Figure XL [ZUa^''<\^S ii^eSAI^ H-»^E^Of^ O=C60KE. 94 1 V-<] ll--asscd en from father to children even though it may detour through 10? a xjidow for a few years, but the. sons are the ones v/ho serve as managers for their mother V7hile she is alive. Personal property of the father--his sv.'ord, g'.'n, desk, clerical vestraents, or office equipirent--is divided between the sons in the same vjay as the mother's jewelry is given equally to daughters. Two or more brothers may be in business together with their father. Brothers often visit one another alone while passing through on business or church trips. Visiting between the entire households of t\co brothers is infrequent. Kinship is one of the basic ingredients in the social organisa- tion of Scotch-Irish descendants forming the summer coimr.unity at Montrcat. Religion and vjorld-view are others. They encompass underlying values and beliefs that tie together the threads of the social fabric. CFAPTER 4 RELIGION AND WORLD-VIEW Loyalty to the Presbyterian church stands alongside loyalty to family and kin as one of t\fontreat residents who were ordained ministers. Formal Beliefs and Doctrines The theology and world-view of the Southern Presbyterians must be understood within the context of the liberal-conservative disagree- ment on interpretation of Scripture, creeds, and church polity. Two distinct positions are delineated by theological informants and are recorded in recent church history. Matters of doctrinal propriety and social action are affected. The conservative position is one of strict constructionism in Scriptural and credal interpretation. The 112 cliurch is believed to be a bodv for spiritual and religious purposes and not for coi"porate social action on political and social question.^. Doctrines of the church fathers are accepted literally as are the VTTitings of the Bible, and salvation is construed as an individual experience with the result being ^lood works and right living „ The liberal position, on the other Isand, cjiphasizes loose constructionism in credal interpretations, and it includes the use of critical scholar- ship for Biblical studies. The cViurch is seen as a corporate body which is capable and duty-bound to act on social and political issues when they affect human welfare. Although some ministers and la}/-man are active in organizations vjhich actively support one or the other position, most m.inisters and Elders in the church are silent supporters of their points of view, with the majority falling near the moderate position, as befits the balanced life. Montreat residents of many summers are found in both factions. No one is without a position, or at least a comment 011 the polarization of viewpoints. There are certain beliefs, such a? the sovereignty of God and the sinfulness of Man, on which everyone can agree-- with a wide variety of interpretations. It is these that give hope to m^iny that the split between conservatives and liberals can be healed by greater love and prayer,. For example, one official of Montreat cited a number of noted "extreme conservatives" and "extrem.e liberals," all of whom own cottages at Montreat, "This is an example," said the official, "of Montreat *s healing power. Everyone lovis ic here no matter what his theology." The fact thac both sides agree on many theological points facilitates a general concensus in the comrivaiiity of Montreat. 113 Within this concensus, Sunday sermons are heard vhich fall along every point in the liberal-conservative continuum. Some worship services reflect one side more than the other. Behaviorally the same is true. While no cue is seen indulging to excess in any form of activity, some known liberals do take a cigarette or a cock- tail or use slang exclamations on occasion. These are ignored or tolerated quietly by the conservative brethren, T/nose abstinence and Bible carrying are politely permitted by the more liberal partici- pants. Each group when congregated with like-minded friends in a home for talk and refreshments, relaxes and makes jokes about the other as well as their ovra sides of the controversy. Other popular jokes are about Scotsmen and Presbyterians as contrasted to those of other countries or denominations. A general agreement on basic Calvinistic tenets makes it possible to summtirize the central doctrinal points. Three basic doctrines stand at the heart of Presbyterianism. These are 1) the Sovereignty of God (creation of the v;orld by Divine hand and orderliness of the universe overseen by Him); 2) Sinfulness, or depravity ol I'-Ian (Man can do no good on his o^ai but must be saved by the Grace of God given in Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for ma.u' s sLn): and 3) the Church as the Body of__the^^_lect (this represents the Covenant Community, or the community of believers and corresponds on the local level to the congregation). Each of these doctrines will be discussed with examples and illustrations from statements, serm-ons, and cultural practices. •'■All credal and doctrinal information in this section is taken from the following sources and synthesized here with the assistance of informants trained in Presbyterian theology. Doctrinal pronounce- ment3 have bean carefullv cross-checked with creeds, theologies, and 114 Creation and Qrder The doctrine of the sovereignty of God places God as the Creator and overseer of the universe. In his wisdom God has created the world according to a divine plan. This plan may not be discernible by man but is partially revealed to man in the writings of the Holy Scriptures. It is through revelation alone, begun in the Scriptures and carried out by the reading and preaching of the Word, that man knows anything of God. In the Westminster Catechism God is described as follows: "God is a Spirit, Infinite, Eternal, and Unchangeable, in His Being, Wisdom, Power, Justice, Goodness, Holiness, and Truth." (p. 25) Creation as ordained by God is orderly and immutable. The world was made by him and belongs to him, with man as a creature and a sojourner. If man does not perceive the divine orderly plan, he has only to wait and pray for enlightened understandings. God is referred to as the great concert master who sounds the master note for all musicians to tune their instruments. If all tune accordingly, harmony results. If there is chaos, it is not the fault of the con- cert master but of the musicians who are out of tune or out of tempo. with informants for a general agreement. Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volumes I and II, translated from the Latin and collated with the author's last edition in French by John Allen. Philadelphia, Westminster Press, The Confession of Faith and the Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, n.d. Richmond: John Knox Press. The Larger and Shorter Catechisms, n.d. Richmond: John Knox Press, Guthrie, Shirley C. Jr, 1968. Christian Doctrine. Richmond: Covenant Life Curriculum Press, 115 Because God is onmipoLent and oroniscieiit he is also mysterious to raan. Miin c-:;perlcnces God thrcugh the Scriptures, through rhe person of Jesus as God's Son, ap.d through the ministry of the sacra- ments within the churchy Jesus is spoken of as the High. Priest, the Lord, tha Shepherd (pastor is another x-7ord for shepherd) , or as the King. God sends Jesus as his personal representative to care for the flock and to lead the people, Jesus is also spoken of as the Captain of a mighty array which is out to X'jin the world for God's side against the side of the Devil. More often Jesus is seen as humble and mild and as the eldest son who looks after a large family, listecis to their troubles, then talres the pleas before the Father, A tliird aspect of God's activity is sfen in what is referred to as the Holy Spirit, or the indwelling presence of God and Jesus in the world. Those who live godly lives aiid regularly attend to their Bible-reading, prayer, and preaching services are said to be "filled with the Spirit." The Spirit is enjoined to be present at every worship or prayer service. Services begin with an invocation, calling upon the Holy Spirit to come into the midst of the gathered Christians. Because of the mystery attached to the Spirit and to the activity of God in general, the members of the church look to the authority of certain chosen vehicles of revelation to understand God's will for rheir li./es. These are the Scriptures, the Church (creeds and \^rr±tten docuuients) , the minister, and the Eiders. Authority of the Scripture The central ity of the Word is reflected by the placing of the pulpit in the center of the chancel in most of the early Presbyterian 116 churches. From this spot the Bible Is read and luterpreLed and the serraon is preached. This arrangement held true every Sunday at Mc>ntreat, the mo^'able pulpit being placed at the center of the large stage in the auditorium. The importance of the location of the pul- pit, and thus the rentrality of the Word, is evidenced in reports of severe controversies in many congregations over architects' plans for nev? sanctuaries uhich include a ?.plit chancel with a pulpit on one side, a lecturn on the other, and the ccipxaunlon table at the center. The traditional Calvinists object to this spatial arrange- ment because it places the sacraments at the center of worship rather than the Word of God, and thus smacks of the episcopacy or Roman Catholicism, During the order of worship each Sunday, two separate passages of Scripture are read. One of these is from, the Old Testament and one is from the New Testament. In addition there is frequently a responsive reading from a Biblical source and another reading for the text of the minister's sermon. These four Bible readings come before the sermon. Their placement is intended to prepare the worshiper in the revelation through the Bible, for the sermon. The sermon is an interpretation of Biblical teachings by a trained minister o Four prayers are offered before the serrtoii begins, further preparation for the hearing of the inspired word^ The minister may offer a prayer before the sermon that he will be used by the Spirit to present God's word effectively. The seiTion is followed by a prayer that what has been said will be acceptable in the sight of God, The doctrine of Divine Revelation through the Koly Scriptures 117 mcaRF that: Prcsbyteriavis are like their Hebrew predecessors iii being a "people of the Book." An emphasis on education is reflected in the presence of a population at Montreat in v/hich every adult person is expected to hold the B.A, degree or to have some years at collcgeo Advanced graduate degrees abound among the males. The professions and businesses of the men are those vhich emphasize education and require good business sense--tninister , teacher, physiciaa, acLorney, and o\\nier or manager of family businesses. Children arc instructed in the Catechism and are taught to recite Bible verses before they can read. Reliance on the written word is also evidenc in the preoccupation of the Presbyterians with their ov7n history „ Every congregation has its ovjn historian--the Clerk of the Session, who keeps careful records and sends thera to the Presbytery. Pv.ecords cf eacli church congregation are meticulously kept at the Historical Foundation library at Montreat. Each congregation's women's auxiliary, the Women of the Church, also has a historian and annually sends separate records to the Historical Foundation for safe keepingo The linkabe of Biblical revelation to history and to the authority of the church was expressed by one preacher at Montreat X'7ho stated that "The Water cf Life comes through a long pipeline down from the Apostles, and every link is a Christian/' Authority of church goverriment Church goveriinaent of the Southern Presbyterian Church reflects the view of the world as an orderly system governed by a providential power. It is structured into an orderly arrangement of ascending powers beginning with the local congregation, governed by tlie Elders 113 c-'.aa iTiiTiisizer', continuing with the Presbytery auc! Lh.c Synod, and culninatlng in the General Assembly, On the local Ipvel the church membeis elvict a Session composed of a set of Elders, U3rally this group number? about five to ten men vjIio are at the peak of their business or professional careers. Those elected serve as Elders for the remainder of their lives. New elections are required only 2 upon the death of one of the Session members. The minister is known, as the "Teaching Elder" and the other member-s are "Ruling Elders." One of these Ruling Elders represents the congregation at each meeting of the Presbytery, which is always attended by the minister. The same pattern is also follovjed in forming the member- ship of a meeting of Synod which is composed of a ntmiber of Presby- teries from the same state o This is shown in Figure XIII. The General Assembly is the highest church court, and it is composed of representatives elected from each Presbytery. The General Assembly acts as a final policy making body on such matters as education and lisensing of the clergy, interpreta.tion of creeds and doctrines, authorization of missionary activities and church publications. Funds are assigned to the causes of the Assembly by the local congregations, with decisions on budget made by the Assembly itselfo The funds all come upward from the budgets of the local congregations paid to the Assembly on a percentage basis i a practice similar to paying ta>:es per head of membership. ^In some more modernized congregations new laws have been passed to allov7 for a rotating Session. Under this plan Elders are chosen for four-year tarm.s and then rotate off, A General Assembly ruling in 1967 also nuide allowance for women to be elected as Elders. 119 120 The local congregation has ultimate control over its funds after the assessments have been paid to the budgets of each higher court. Each congregation also owns and operates its own property and calls its o\^m pastor, but the procedure^ are I'egulated by the General Assembly and its sub-units, who can investigate a church or pastor alleged to be operating in an "un-Presbyterian" fashion. Figure XIII presents a graphic representation of the church authority structure. A hallmark of the Presbyterian tradition is that things are done in an orderly way. For example, the procedures for church order are carefully prescribed in The Book of Church Order. Each Session uses this book as its guide in decision-making and procedure and every seminary student studies it thoroughly in courses on churcli polity. The Sock of Church Order sets doxcn the rules that are believed to be contained within the Holy Scriptures and codified in the Westminster Confession. This rulebook contains no less than twenty-nine chapters on form of government, nineteen chapters on rules of discipline, and seventeen chapters on directions for all types of worship services. The Larger Catechism, written at the same time as the West- minster Confession in the Seventeenth Century, contains questions and answers about doctrine and belief that are expected to be kno'i^ra by initiates. Youngsters who join the church around puberty mei.orize a shortened version, known as the Shorter Catechism, of 107 questions and an::wers about the nature of God, man, the Bible, and the Christian life. The ministers and Elders are responsible for teaching the Catechism and maintaining church order ^ 121 Authority of the n^inlster and Elders Due to their superior age and knowledge, the minister and the Elders are viewed as the leaders cf the congregation and the inter- preters of the faith. The ordering of the worship service itself reflects this reliance on the minister as initiator of action, with the role of the congregation being that of responding to the activities hs initiates. The typical Sunday vjorship service at Montreat con- sists cf an order or worship which includes eighteen separate iteraM. Of these, thirteen are originated by the minister. The other five items are musical and are signaled by the organist beginning a hymn or anthem. The congregation responds six times to the minister by standing; or bowing heads and one time by reading a printed responsive reading from the program. The ordained minister is the only person allowed to officiate at the tx\'o .Eacram.ents of coumuniou and baptism, or to officiate at wed- dings and funerals. Elders, however, assist during these ceremonies. During the couxaunicn service, the Elders assist by serving the bread and wine to the congregation. At a baptism one Elder holds the bowl of X7ater for sprinkling the child, and at a funeral the Elders are often asked co serve as honoLary pallbearers. In these activities the Elders represent the entire congregation, symbolizing its participation with individuals during life crisis ceremonials. Weddings are planned by women, the Elders have no official part. An aspect of the increased wisdom of the Elders is the reverence fcr the old and for the ancestors. Older men in the minis ti-y are also revered. This reverence for the ^^7isdom. of age has alreadv been discussed as it is cypres'', ed at >[ontreat. In the local 122 congregations, older ministers are listened to with care by their Sessions, while the younger more receiit seminary graduates are only tolerated with good natureo Personal gifts or bequests of deceased Elders are treated with equal reverence. These are used often for memorial windov7S or pews in the sanctuary, or even for memorial buildings, such as those at Montreat named for honored dead. Older people speak glowingly of their deceased friends and relatives who were "pillars of the congregation." One is careful to speak only in praise of the Elders or to say nothing at alio In contrast, speak- ing critically of the "youth of today" or the "radical young ministers" is acceptable,, Elders and ministers are considered possessors of superior knowledge. This is expressed in the order of action in the Sunday School at Montreat „ There the fomaal passing on of faith and lore of the people of God takes place at the initiation of teachers and older leaders » Without exception in the age-graded classes the teacher initiates action to the students, who respond v/ith answers or recitations. Younger children are instructed in Bible stories or directed ii\ memorising Bible verses or the ordering of the books in the Bible, High school and college classes receive lessons out of a prepared series. In suirorier of 1970, the college class had its first lesson on the Ivestminstcr Confedsiono Subsequent lessons were concerned with church doctrine and books of the Bible. Adult Bible classes are held in the sanctuary of the Montreat Presbyterian church with the teacher standing at the pulpit and giving a vjeekly lecture that resembles a sermon, with no interruptions or questions from the floor. As an e:;pcrimcnt during the sumner, a group of 123 college students started vhat they termed au "underground Sunday School" with the help of a young minister employed by the conference center. Even though the group was full of nev7 ideas and tried many different formats of activity they continued to keep the minister in the role of "teacher" and they responded as "students," The extreme emphasis on God's sovereignty and power accompanies a cognitive structuring of an orderly universe with God at the tojj, with Jesus next, and with man at the lovjer level of authoricyo Man is ruler of the natural world, but the creeds and doctrines tell him that he is a steward or a trustee for God and should carefully tend and nurture the earth. Man's relation to the natural world is defined by his condition before God and his place in nature, a duality that is resolved only by extensive cultural and social explanations and arrangements . I-tan and the Natural World- -Salvation bv Grace Ma.n's relation to God and the xrarld ia described by the Bible story of the Creation and Fall. Man \;as created by God "in His image" for communication and fellowship. Ke was placed in a beautiful garden which provided for all his needs » A woitian Xvas made to be his companion. Cue to their insistence on eating the fruit of a tree. forbidden to them by God, they were banished for their disobedience and forced to live in the world of work and pain. Theologians interpret the fruit of the tree as a symbol for the knCT'7ledge of good and evil, or the desire of man to be like God and in control of his cvm life rather than dependent on God. After his banishment from the garden, man's condition before God became one of depravity, or sin, in which man continually tries to be lihe Cod and make his o'-.m decisions. HCTTevor, mnn is unable to make right ieciaions because wan is not God. The \jorld v;hich jnan inhabits is full of pain and toil, Man contends in this \TOrld with a destructive power of Evil, personified as the Devil » This is the negative spiritual power that tempted man in the first place to go against his creator. Being caught in the power of the Devil is equated with Sin"-the inability of man to love his fellow man or to do any good works, even the mis-use of the created i7orld for evil purposes. Sin is referred to as a disease, as being under the poxr/er of evil or of the Devil, and to this condition is attributed all the ugliness and chaos in the world. No amount of good works can save man from this condition. Rather, God must extend his own hand downward to pull man up out of sinfulness into a new state of salvation, God initiates the activity of grace and love for m.an. God's work for the salvation of man is embodied in an agreement between God and his chosen people. This act of God is described in the Bible as the Covenant, made first wi.th Abraham and the Israelites and later ro.ade with all those who accept Jesus as God's son and representative. Those who respond to God's offer of salvation enter into a contract to be God's people. This new condition is described as "saved." "redeemed," "reconciled," and "free/' Im,ages of slavery and freedom run through the Bible stories as well as images of master- servant . Other types of relatiopships conceptualized between God and his people are captain-army, shepherd- flock, and father- children. In preaching services the listeners are reminded that they have already been "bought wii-.h a price" and that their "sins 125 have been vjashed r.way." Instead of being slaves to the world and the Devil, they are now slaves to Clirist. This brings nev; life and later resurrectici. The condition of sin as a disease which is remedied by Jesus (God's offer of salvation) was surooiarijicd by one preacher as follov7s: Sin is like polio. We know of the vaccine. I£ ycu do not know of the vaccine, you die. The remedy is known, but it must be administered by the skillful hands of those \7ho have received it, The metaphor reflects not only the view of sin and salvation but the method of receiving the good nev7S--from. those who have received it before. Another preacher equated the Christian's position to that of a stranger in a strange land. Christians in the world are in hostile territory --enemy territory — and don't forget it. We Chr'istiaas are not of this world. We are walking in the light and the world is walking in darkness. We Christians are in the world as representative? of Jesus Christ. We are light where there is spiritual darkness. Grace and good works The view that salvation is accomplished by God rather than by man's activity is expressed in the congruent view that the nature of things, including social system.s, is set by God in a discernible pattern which should not be altered by man. One is born into a larger family a.nd is forever a member of it, irrespective of one's actions duri.-ig one's lifetime. Si.nilarly, one Is saved once and for all before one's birth and cannot revoke this action. The "saved" sho\7 evidence of their salvation by responding to God's grace. Those who shov; no response arc labeled "unsaved" by the Presbyterians, This is made e\'ldent by lack of respon5e--and only God knov.'S which are the saved and which are the damned. Therefore, 126 missionary efforts continue, to be certain that all those who have been foreordained to the body of the elect have an opportunity to her.r the good news , According to this view of man and society, good v7orks are not a means to salvation but an evidence that it has occurred ^ Those who are saved will exhibit it by their right actions (living within the rules of conduct prescribed by the church), high moral standards, and love of others. The unsaved will evidence this by their laxity of morals, absence from church and from the body of the elect, and in "reckless living" (participation in gala activities and in squandering of money) . The elect receive additional inspiration from God's spirit through their love and kindness, through Bible reading, and in prayer. The condition of increased oneness with the x^7^ys of God over a period of years is kno\^m as "growing in Grace^" An advanced stage of this is the condition in which the Godly old people exist, ^.nd it accounts for the admiration which they receive from their families and friends. Those v7ho have lived a Godly life within this body of believers and have gro^.m in Grace pass on after death to their reward in the heavenly life, a continued groi'/th in spirituality and nearness to the Will of God. There they join the departed ancestors and the former saints. Sacred songs tell of the reunion in heaven, of the lovely land beyond the river, "for all the saints \;ho frv.m their labors rest." Eternal life- -be re/u'ter vs. here Those who have responded to God's saving action in sending Jesus arc rewarded iii this life by their existing in communion 127 with God. They are also rewarded after death, because the community of the elect are also present in the heavenly community where God is in charge. On the other hand, those who have not responded to God in the world and exist in the kingdom of the Devil are damned. In the life after death, they continue living in a state of damnation, spoken of as hell. A preacher summed up hell and heaven as follows: In the city of man we see all the fruits of sin and of the Devil--every sex sin, noise, pollution, croxjding, substandard housing. In the city of God the streets are paved \;ractions with one another as Christians. 129 Calvin's original idea was for a theocracy in which church govern- ment and state government would be concurrent. On the frontier in early settlement days this in fact materialized to some extent, as the Session acted as court and the congregation as the total community. Sermons include many references to the church as a lifeboat afloat in a stormy sea in which many are drowning. In one illustra- tion used to admonish those who would tear the church apart, a man in a lifeboat full of people was drilling a hole under his seat. When the others began to cry out to him not to do it, he replied that he was perfectly free to drill under his seat. "It's ra^ seat," he flatly stated. The preacher was quick to point out the destructive- ness of individual interests when they are put above those of the common good of the congregation as a whole. Another nautical metaphor compared the church people to a group in a lifesaving station near the coast. The lifesavers became so interested in their OT^m pleasures that they let many ship\,7recks go unnoticed. "There are many ship- wrecks along that ocean," observed the preacher, "but most of the survivors drown." Congregation and covenant In addition to being the lifeboat to save the potential drowners the congregation is also the vessel holding the sacred covenant between God and his people. Moreover, the congregation is the hub of cere- monial activity, and the rites of passage in the life cycle of an individual are enacted within the context of congregational events. Thus newborn infants of church couples are baptised in a ceremony held during a Sunday morning congregational worship service. As 130 important part of the service the members of the church promise to act as assistant parents in "bringing up the child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The baptismal ceremony incorporates the child into the covenant community. Because infants born into the congregation are children of the covenant, the infant who dies before baptism is considered taken to heaven by God. His fractional contact with the sinful world and his heritage of the Covenant places him in a state of Grace, The child's name as an individual is significant, as well as his place in the church family. In the baptismal service, the minister addresses the child by his given name and his surname saying, "John Smith, Jr., child of the covenant, I baptise thee in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen." Phrases used in printed materials and creeds to express the condition of the baptised infant include "heirs of salvation," "children of the faith," and "inheritors of the kingdom." This theme is repeated in the Covenant Life Curriculum used in the Christian education program of Southern Presbyterians. This curriculum material includes such titles as Families Within the Family, The Family of Faith, and Claiming the Inheritance, all reflecting the view of the congregation as the family of God into which new members are born rather than into which they are converted. After a period of instruction in church history and doctrine young adolescents are allowed the privileges of voting and taking communion. A group of youngsters appears together before the Session as prospective communicants and answer questions about their beliefs and committment. They then are received by the entire congregation during a worship service. If other individuals 131 wish to join a local church upon moving or deciding to change affiliations, they are also taken into the membership by appearing before the Session and then the congregation. The congregation also provides a social context within which marriages take place. A typical pattern is to place an announcement of the forthcoming wedding in the church bulletin and have the event on a weekend evening. The bride's ov-m pastor is expected to officiate and the reception is held in the church parlor or fellowship hall, with only non-alcoholic punch and wedding cake as refreshments. A funeral dra^^7S the largest attendance of any of the other ceremonial occasions, particularly if the deceased is an older person who was well thought of in the congregation. Funerals are routinely held in the church sanctuary rather than at a funeral parlor. In rural churches, burial is in the church graveyard. Examination of rural churchyards from the Ninteenth Century reveals that spouses are buried beside one another with their unmarried children at their feet. Married children x-7ho die before their spouses are placed in the lot belonging to their family of orientation. New graveyards were begun adjoining new churches on the frontier and the pattern was repeated. The congregation mobilizes to assist a bereaved family during the first day after the death by bringing in food, greeting out-of- town guests, providing extra rooms, sending flowers, and offering any needed services. Funeral sermons place emphasis on the partici- pation of the deceased in the covenant community and the reward to which that person has no^^; passed on. The church is described as a great onf lowing stream of the elect passing doxm through the ages. 132 Tbo^c v'ho remain behind are ;?]! a P^rc of the church of Moses, Abrahav, Jesus, Calvin, and Lhe iny-uedlate pasc ancc:5tors, A heavenly kingdotti exists in the boyond that is structurally sloillar to the earthly church-God's clLy in a world inhabited also by m^n and the evil forces o But in the city in the after-life God is uucoutesti-bly the r.^.^yor. At this point it is necessary to restate some of the organiza- Tzlonal arranseraents for church life as a prelude to v;hat fclloT.So Within the confines of the life of the congregation a number of activities are regularly scheduled for parts or all of the oiernber- ship. Aside from the governing bo.rd of Elders there is a second elected group of raen called Deacons, who aeet regularly to super- vise the matters of upkeep and finance. They for:n the business and housekeeping branch of the gcvernxaent while the 'Elders make official policy snd attend to doctrinal, prograin, and dicciplinary uiatters. All the men members are automatically mc-trbers of the Men of the Church. Paralleling the men's organization, an association e::ists of all women mergers, called Women of the Church. College and high school students have similar organisations containing both sexes, knovm as Presbyterian Youth FellcAVship. All church m-mbers join in weekly Sunday worship, in the life-crisis ceremonials, and in the periodical Family Night Supper. Fanaly Night Supper a'^y be held monthly or quarterly, but it consists always of food brought in by each mother and laid out on long tables for buffet serving. Families sit together and afterwards li^Jteu to an inforir.al program or sing hyi.ns. After the supper there is a long period of visiting and chatting betxreen the men, the women, and the young people eac h 133 in their separate clusters. Viewed as a progression of events of suitmer long duratiuu, the activities at Montreat bear a remarkable similarity to those of a local congrcgation„ From a close look at the Montreat family gatherings and the meanings surrounding family, one gains the awareness that family and church bear structural resemblances to one another that are congruent with th.e Calvinist outlook on life. The congruencies of structure and values between church and family v;ill be presented here and extended by a look at the expression of world-view in the dual pathways traveled by m.ales and females in this culture. Ail of these elements are present in the fabric of summer life as scted out in Montreat as the locus of ceremonial celebration. Church and Family The Southern Presbyterian Church is conceived by its members a: 3 "greater family" v/hich encompasses all families and households within the church as well as the apical Biblical ancestors and early church members.. Th : similarity of the familial descent groups to the ascending authority cones of church government are indications of this eraph.asis. The principles of order and authority which are essential to Presbyterians is the family and in all other areas of life are also eiabodied in the doctrine and worship of the church. Written documents and creeds explain and prescribe m.an'o relation to the world. In the same m.anner one's family history explains one's placement v/ithin a family and one's relations to others. The themes cf lineality and laterality found within the family are also evident in the church, especially in the 134 emphas5.s on dc!part"cd ancestors and f.he sf.f.nts who hrrje gone before and the in.porLanco given to tlie congregation as the recipient and carrier of the Covenant. The duality of flesli and spirit is nov7uere more evident than in the values, praci-ices, aitd behaviors connected with the family . ITiis aspect of rruin's relation to the natural ^.rarld has both bodily and spiritual components. Because it is essential in procreation and in coatinuancc of society, sexual intercourse must be explained and sanctioned, even though it is connected \\fith the flesh. Elab- orate arrangements regarding the body, sex, and their associated behaviors are a part of the tradition and will be described within the context of meanings assigned to the natural world. Body and Spirit The family and household unite body and spirit and are instrumental in the divine plan through \v?hich God passes on the Covenant fron^ generation to generation, "un.LO the children's children." This iir^portant role of passing on the tradition gives sacred significance to the household and kin group. Thus, marriage is an alliance made in heaven which should not be dissolved by raa.no Divorce is a rife in the Covenant Family, and the remarriage of divorced persons is coiam.only defined as adultery. Those who are the "innocent parties" in divorces obtained on grounds of adultery or \7illful desercion are taken into the congregational family as if widovred. One piece of evidence of the sanctions against divorce is that, any minister who becomes divorced for any reason is expected quietly to resign and take up anotihcr profession. The sacred quality of the family as purveyor of the faith gives 135 a sacred aspect to sexual relaticnships '.vnilch arc vieved as nscnssary for procreation rather than for pleasure. The printed literatuxe on Christian marriage discusses the highly spiritual nature of the sex act, which is said to unite two souls. Hov;ever; any evidence of an excess of interest in the body or enjoyment of sex are assigned to the realm of "reckless living" and therefore are inappropriate for those v7ho are among the Electc As a consequence of the view of sex for procreation rather than for enjoyment, the church does not sanction sexual relations between unmarried persons. A statement of the General Assembly in 1952 pertained to "the Christian viex\-' of sex," stating its pronounccm.ent as fellows: Jesus Christ helps a person to sublimate and control this force, and to use it for his glory. . . . The moral law "Thou shalt not commit aciultery" is as applicable today as it xv'as when Moses first descended Mount Sinai with the Law. ... Christians do not believe that prem.aritai relations are a good preparation for marriage. The Church contends that such indulgence is morally, spiritually, and psychologically bad preparacicn for marriage. (Presbyterian Church in the United States, 1962, p. 85) Considerable preaching was devoted to this subject during the summer, during which the young and the vulnerable vjere properly admonishedo The world and its sinfulness were described as playing on the passions of man_, who is able to resist only with the help of Jesus. Jesus aids man in bringing about the ideal condition of "the balanced life." Some of these sermon admonitions are presented here. Christianity is the only answer to the needs of our time. Evils of this world are alcohol, gambling, lewd entertainment, drugs, and sex. Man is obsessed by his cvm know-how and is in revolt a>;ainst GodI 136 What we need is a balance of life's resources, a syEr.cmatic acknowledgement of God's claim on my life. When I see these young people going to excess with no sense of management, I am worried. If V7e follow Christ's footsteps there are some plr.ces we will not visit . . . some things we v;ill not do. Men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions will forge their fetters. , . . What we need in America is a right relationship to Him--a mastery over self. . . . The psychiatrist prescribes a routine as a part of therapy for the sick mail. \"7hat m^.n needs is the X'7all-ordered life. The balanced life values eve""ything in moderation, nothi.ng to excess. The passions of man which propel him into sex, anger, or even extreme joy and e>:u7- tatioxi are suspected because they seem to be uncontrolled. They are assigned to the world of the flesh and the body. Spirit and intellect can be more easily ordered ai^d controlled. Within the confines of ■'^araiiy, children learn values relating to the body. Their bodies are covered, and parents attempt to keep children from seeing chem unclothed. Informants reported that they had never seen their mothers in underwear, that the father of the house always dressed before coming do;-m to breakfast, and that sex or the body was never discjssed at home, ^.vh.en it is inevitable that a young girl be instructed about menstruation, the mother frequently hands her a book on the subject and considers this adeciuate preparation for her adolescence. Lisplay ct the body Is considered in bad taste, and embarrass- ment results from any discussion of bodily functions. Anj.ma.l behavior is also a source of embarrassment, and it is considered poor taste to call attention to a pet in case it should display some behavior considered obscene by the group. Until recently a 137 Montreau rule required that the body be covered after swiinming in the lake before sv7irfai\C7:s could cross over the dr.n to the hotel. One elderly woman told me she couldn't stand to go to the beach ^'because of all that nakedness and loose living." Shorts and short skirls are seen at Montreat on young girls, but the collegiate workers in the dining rooms and hotels must have uniforms that cover their knees. The body is said to be the "temple of the Koly Spirit" ar.d therefore must not be displayed wantonly. Discussion of illness is another expression of the disdain for man's bodily self. It is considered bad taste to ask the nature of an illness or to describe one's operation.. Even illnesses of terminal nature in which loved ones are suffering ave not discussed specifically. Instead, when asked "Hoxj is Margaret today?" a husband or daughter will reply that "She is doing well. Rer spirit is good and she has a great deal of courage," This avoidance of matters associated x.7ith the body and the regard for the bodily functions as unclean stera from the insistence that the flesh and the world are evil and depraved. Because women are bio- logically tied to physical anchors such as menstruation and child- birth, they can never rise to the spiritual heights possible to men, who devote full tim.e to activities of a cleaner nature. The resulting structure is a duality of activities in ttie life cycle sanctioned by sacred stories and theological tr > •r-l >. iJ ttf o 1—1 TO D. +-( y) r^J r-l c en r.' 0) a> {X. ^ o 0) C i 4J • •rl i-< 0) CO RJ 60 > 00 (^ g C c u Cl R ni O m c >. 0 0) •H (U Cfj -d o CO t-H CO Vi VW 0) u e 4J cd CO >-. rCi ^ TS 1-1 i-i 0 ^ cti t> 4.1 c CO 0) ^ tn -d -o u t^i nj JJ G en 0) C 3 60 u •r4 i-< ^ rt 4-1 r-< !-l O >^ Qi eu — < « T^ JJ ai ctj dJ rM i-i > E o t4 u X! -O •H crt 0) •H —1 £ •r-l OJ ■jJ C! E c a; 4-1 C ^+-1 P j-i E o c; Cj CJ o -i Zs U r-l 143 fair.ilies come to fjim the suninier-lons coven?int coinrauaity. The Sunday noruing \-orship in the auditoriun draws ?11 niembers of t?ie cormunity and prcvidco the same raeaidiigc r.s the regular ;;eekly congregational v7orship. The Suramer Sunday' Scl.'.ool Is faithfully staffed and provided, though it is less well attended than the worship service, A Montreat Woman's Club maecs weekly and acts out the same type of socializing and. programs as in the local Woiaen of the Church organization. Montreat 's Tox>7n Council sits as the Session for the comraunity. its deliberations always beginning and ending with prayer = The annual meeting of tne cottage owners is the congregational meeting, with the cottage-o'-niers' pictiic serving as a congregational Family Night Supper. The m.ovemsnc of Presbyterians in space from city to mountains over an annual cycle becomes an expression of a v7orld-view in which a duality exists in the universe batv:'een the evil associated with the city and t?ie v7orld and the spiritual things associated with God and nature. Creation was accomplished in a beautiful garden at which time man was essentially a part of nature, a creature of God with dominion over all the creatures and under instr'.ictions to care for the world. Man's wickedness and worldly sin as a result of the Ce\'il's power are connected with the world outside the garden. Cities are spoken of Biblically as being a particularly glaring example of sin and corruption. The Devil is said to be in charge of the city, xdiile God is in charge of gardens, mountains, lakes, and glades--his ovm Creation. Montreat' s founders stated clearly that it vjas est-:;blished as a retreat for Christiinci from the tenntatioiis of the city. Rer-e their children could run freely 144 as man was originally intended to do by God before his loss of innocence. References to the city as evil earlier in this study suggested a relationship between this viewpoint and the fact that urbanization processes had altered rural lifeways and disturbed traditional values. The view of Montreat as a haven for the old-fashioned virtues where children are safe from worldly sins is consistent with the glorifi- cation of rural, old-fashioned goodness. The practice of gathering in smmner for religious meetings, ceremonial meals, and kin reunions is explained on the basis of Biblical authority-the tribes of Israel coming together. In these gatherings both in the rural past and in the present day at Montreat all the generations of believers are symbolically united. Partici- pants become one with past and future as their own sense of people- hood and of belonging increases and is passed on to the children now inheriting the tradition. The explicit ways in which the tradition is transmitted provide the next subject to be examined. An explica- tion of these vehicles of transmission will complete the circle in the attempt to make clear the ceremonial expressions of the linkages between familial, religious, and socialization patterns. Some of the practices described here are also found in other Southern denominations. However, this description emphasizes those which are most closely tied to the Presbyterian way of life. CHAPTER 5 LIFE CYCLE AND SOCIALIZATION The gathered community at Montreat serves a number of stated and unstated purposes c Its stated aims are to provide a religious asser.tbly grounds for the church and a retreat where Christians can escape temporarily from the evil and the temptations of the city worlds The unstated purposes served by the Montreat comitiunity include the reunion of families and kin groups, the provision of a community setting in vhich cultural messages can be transmitted in events and activities to the young, and the maintenance of a setting -where appropriate m.arriage partners can be found. These two final elements in the operation of Montreat serve important ends in the preservation of the culture o These aspects of cultural preservation include the necessity for socialization mechanisms and for mechanisms of boundary maintenance, or structural separation through m.arriagc patterns, Socializ^ition is accomplished in several ways. One is through the activities of parents with children. Another is the formal organization of young people's clubs, and still another is the gentle guidance of children toward attendance at Presbyterian colleges and seminaries^ The provision of services by the collegiate worker corps provides a summer activity for college age students who might otherwise be lost to other pleasures. At the same tim.e this practice provides older "heroes" to serve as examples to the young children in the clubs. It also serves as a means whereby young 145 146 adults of marriageable age can spend long unhurried monLhs in a safe context getting to know candidates of the opposite sex. The scp~ arateness of Montreat from the world facilitates its capacity to serve these multiple purposes. By their participating in all the activities at Montreat, children constantly learn a world-vie.v- and become socialized for adult roles among the Presbyterian community. Child-Rearing The principles of order, sin and grace, and the family within the Covenant conununity are taught to children by interaction with their parents and families. Children begin to come to Montreat as babies, whose routine for eating and sleeping is praised and appreciated if it is highly regular » The womaii's pregnancy is a source of embarrassment to many and is mentioned in veiled terms such as "expecting," "in a family way," or "looking for a baby." Yet the new infant is received with rejoicing as a gift of Cod. He receives the constant care and attention of his mother, assisted by grandmother or mother's sister, and during his first surrner at Montreat he is attentively cared for by a succession of siblings, cousins, and aunts. Due to the nature of the high-perched houses with porches on the mountainside or near the creek, the toddler gets special care at all times by a female relative„ Until the age of four or five the child is cared for at home by the mother and her sisters and nieces. His outings consist of long walks and visits to the Montreat children's playground where other toddlers come with their mothers. Between the ages of five and thirteen children take on r^.ore activities vjith family members outside the home and then later 147 alone. I7\\en he is about five years old, the cliild bcginb to attend tl'.e Sunday service in the auditorium v.vith his parents. Here ho is expected to sit quietly for an hour without fidgeting. In later childhood, he plays freely up and dowa the mountain and in the creek v;ith his cousins and the children of his parents' friends and is encouraged to be independent and make up his own pretend games. Command performances include appearance at the supper table and at Suriday dinner as well as at the family picnic, where children must arrive neat and clean and be polite when introduced, eat using their manners, stand for introductions, and then may disappear with cousins to romp for the afternoon unnoticed by the growv.ups. Certain scheduled and planned events at Montreat are specifically set up so that families can attend as a unit„ One of these is the "family night skate" in V7hich mothers, fathers, and children don rented roller skates in the basement of the gymnasium and skate to music for two hours „ Those parents ^.7ho did not actend Montreat as a child find this an unusually hard skill to learn, and these frequently are seen sitting along the sidelines while the childhood group of their spouses speed and clown on the skating floor with the children;, The same phenomenon occurs at the "family night square dance" when even the youngest f ive-year-cld dances the circle dances with his grandiL-other if the grandmother attended Montreat as a youth and learned the dances then. Thus, the in-group of "old Montreaters" is subtly defined over and over again amid the various summer activities . 148 Younp. Peoples* Clubs Oiic of the places vrhere the process of. groi'.p forrLurtt5.on for the children of the "old Montreaters" takes place most visibly is In the club progranio Operated by the confereiYce center for over twenty years, the clubs are designed to serve both conference and cottage people. College students serve as counselors of five age-graded segments, which play team sports s-nd organized games, participate in arts and crafts, swim, ride horseback, and take hikes. The program combines elements of Sunday School, youth fellowship, and summer camp in transmitting to the young the Presbyterian sub- culture. This happens in two distinctive ways. One is in the internal process itself of arranging children in certain orders and exposing them to the community values of tradition and conform.ity» The other is the selection and trai.ning of club leaders and the behaviors through which they pass on aims and goals. Order, induction, and group formation An observer from a distance watching one of the club groups for little children immediately notices that they never travel anywhere without being in a straight line. When asked why this was done, one of the primary children answered that "'Katherine (the leader) said that it would help to settle us down. We didn't have to, but we wanted to, because she said vje would get there much faster that way." This procedure i3 used to transport children on foot from their club building to the crafts shop twice a week, and when field trips are planned they march onto the buses in the same orderly way. In the older groups one 149 activity is knovm as a "bee-line hike." This is a long walk over and under and around many obstacles in follow- the- leader fashion. Planned games are popular, with the club leader as director giving instructions. Swimming is done in club groups within a prescribed time period and under the supervision of the leaders. The set order of club activities leads children vzho have been in the program before to frequently volunteer "we did it last year . . ." in whatever particular manner was the custom. The children object to new ways with "That isn't the way we have always done it at Montreato" Frequent references to "last summer ..." quickly mark off those who are yearly participants from those who are present to attend conferences or for their first visit to a cottage. Within each age- graded section in summ.er of 1970, an inner core of friends develop who stay for the entire sutTimcr. This core includes children of the Montreat; staff, of the all-summer cottagers, and of regular Montreaters of many summers. These cliques correspond roughly to the childhood friendship groups of the children's parents and are entirely separate in interaction from the conference-goers' children, who also attend the clubs. The real division in the minds of the children is between the "children who live in a cottage" and the "conference kids." Conference kids appear and disappear with xjeekly regularity and it is soon learned in kindergarten that lasting (eight-xveek) friendships have to be sought among those who don't go away. Therefore, the conference kids learn to form their ov^m groups in much the same vay their parents are doing at adult meetings, in which there is 150 also a separation between the summer cottage people and those attending conferences. One of the ways iii which new children are initiated into the club groups reflects the emphasis on knowing how to conform, or as one club leader put it on "how to shape up or ship out„" This induction consists in the playing of circle games in which there is a secret way of doing some trick that is known to all circle members except the new children. One such game is called "Tommy- Tommy "Tommy-Whoops ~T omriy. " In this game, participants sit in a circle on tlie floor while the leader starts by counting his fingers with the jingle above, then gestering in some specific but unobtrusive V7ay to complete the action. He then asks the next person to count his fingers in exactly the same way. Those who have played before and are in possession of the secret can repeat the action in its entirety, but the new child invariably misses the extra action and counts over and over without success. After all members around the circle have repeated it the observant new- comer will pick up the secret and be able to perform, correctly, for which he is applauded. In addition to testing the child's observational skills and pattern-perception the game becomes a test of toughness and good humor and can be painful for the child who never catches on. Most do, and the club leaders are trained and instructed to be kind and gentle with the losers and move on quickly to another less taxing game. Other games are used in this x-jay with the new collegiate workers and new staff mem.bers. They represent operationally the type of attitude and skills of survival necessary for inclusion in 151 the community--particularly the ability to conform to prescribed limitations of behavior and the good nature to absorb joking crit- icism as a way of learning proper conduct. Because an important part of the socialization process is carried by the club leaders, their selection and supervision must be done with great care. Presbyterianism is taught in clubs not by formal doctrines but by activities and interactions with club leaders. Club workers as heroes Children look up to their club leaders and ask for their opinion and advice. Even though activities are done jointly, for each age grade there is a male and a female leader. Both sexes are in this way exposed to appropriate sex role models in positions of respect and authority. The groups of boys and of girls who take part temporarily in sex segregated play are recombined each day at the close of clubs and leaders take equal responsibility for supervising children's behavior regardless of sex. Loyalty of the children themselves is to their own age grade and against other age grades rather than that of "boys against the girls." The club leaders of each sex told me about their own days as a child at Montreat and frequently identified an adult member of the community who had been their hero when that adult served as a club leader. My o\'jn children and their friends developed the same admiration and attachment for their club leaders, the girls becoming fond of their female leader and my son developing a reverent admiration for the baseball ability of the male leader of his club. In this way, the club workers fulfill the important function of providing role-models for the community's growing 152 childrcno The club workers as a group are attractive aud "wholesome" college students who are above average in intelligence and genuinely like children. Questionnaires distributed by the collegiate news- paper were used to tabulate the colleges of all workers. Seventy- eight Xv-orkers filled out the forms, out of a total population of 115. Cf seventeen club workers, ten attended Presbyterian colleges. This proportion is considerably higher than in the total population of collegiate xvorkers, of which 34.62 per cent attend Presbyterian colleges. It far outstrips the proportion of the non-club workers who attend church colleges, a proportion of seventeen out of sixty. This information is tabulated in Table IX. Although official policy is to consider applicants from all colleges, the ones from tlie Presby- terian schools are preferred for club leaders. These same students include many who are longstanding atteuders at Moutreat and who are known by the athletic director from cheir childhood days. Many are from the old families with wide kin connections. The placement of these students who are traveling the accepted educational route to positions of influence produces a favorable cli- niate for influencing young children to begin thinking of attending Presbyterian schools. This influence is begun and reinforced by the attitudes of parents v;ho traveled this route themselves. Children are quick to pick up the cues about expected present and future behavior. For example, in summer of 1970 my o\\7n nine year old daughter became a convert. She had never heard of any of the schools attended by her leaders and her only experience of college was that cf a large state university^ Ch-;e night after a long happy day at clubs she asked 153 "Hou¥iiy, do you think I should go to Agned Scott or to Queeas? One of n:y club leaders goes to Scott, and the Primary club leader goes to Queens." Club leaders form their o\vn frr.endship groups apart from other collegiates and are seen as high status people by the workers in other categories, who refer to them as "clubbies," a term never used by club workers for themselves. Among the neighborhood sample of Montreat cottagers, many reported having m.et and courted their spouses while both worked in clubs. Couples formed during the sumnier who worked together in clubs declared their intention to continue the rom-ance in the fall by visiting one another at college. The importance of the club i^orkers to the functioning of the sumraer program is made explicit in the postponement of orientation of all collegiate workers until after the club workers have arrived, two weeks behind the others o I'Then this group arrives, then things can get under\-7ay, even though there have been two conferences in the center and the maids and waitresses have all been hard at work for some time. Collegiates The final phase in the child-rearing process is seen in the organization of the collegiate worker corps. This is the launching pad for the products of earlier training and experiences <. Older informants frequently reported that they had worked at Montreat while in college. Some served on domestic and repair crews, as bell boys, waitresses, lifeguards, or as clubworkers,, All reported having enjoyed the experience and provided tales of good cimss and pranks as vzell as examples of how they had beat the system by 154 breaking rules without getting caught. Among the collegiates' jobs, a division of labor by sex is clearly defined. Girls are hired for the jobs of maid and waitress. requiring housekeeping and food haiidling. Boys fill the slots of repairmen on sound equipment, movers of chairs and fux"niture, carriers of baggage, and drivers of buses and trucks. As an e:-;ample of the compliance v/ith accepted norms, no advocates of wom.en's liberation spoke out during collegiate discussions which I attended diiring the period of residence. Only one moderate proponent of equal rights for women spoke out at a dormitory discussion and was overwhelmed with rebuttal. The girl who spoke was from outside the "old Montreat" circle, from West Virginia and attended college in Ohio, th.e only non-Southern girl on the work force. Those collegiates who do not attend Presbyterian colleges-- 83.1 per cent of the workers--show a decided preference for small private or state colleges (see Table IX). They indicated during Informal interviews that they liked sraaller schools due to the "personal approach" and the feeling that "you are not just a number." Those who attend state universities do so in their home state, with eight out of the thirteen attending the University of North Carolina and the others enrolled at their own state university. Throughout the summer a planned recreation program is sponsored by the Montr eat office striccly for the benefit of the collegiate workers. Recreation includes weekly skating, square dances, group trips to nearby state parks, and parties to freeze home-m^do ice cream. In 1970 special events were the appearance of a student rock ba^id in concert, a talent shov7 produced by collegiates 155 TABLE IX. TYPES OF COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ATTENDED BY COLLEGIATE WORKERS* Type of College Club Workers Others Total Colleges Presbyterian Other Private Small State Universities State Total 10 1 2 17 27 12 13 22 24 18 60 14 78 "The sample here is drawn from information solicited by the summer collegiate nevjspaper from 115 collegiate workers (1007o of those working). Seventy-eight supplied all information requested. 156 themselves, and a final overnight campout on Lhc Blue Ridge Parkway, All these events v.'ere arranged \;ith the leadership of a paid recreation specialist who is hired each summer to provide healthy activities for these "boys and girls," vrnile it is considered desirable to set up the dynamics of contact between potential marriage partners at this impressionable age it is also considered essential to fill their leisure hours with x^7holesome activity so that their contacts will "be of the highest type." Square dancing and sports are popular with all and use up enough energy to satisfy the planners. Those who have energy to spare or who do not join in the planned activities find ample opportunity to explore unsanctioned pastimes. These include individually sponsored parties for friends. Others are late night trips in cars to Asheville for rock music or rock festivals on weekends when no conference is in residence. Another favorite unofficial activity is overnight campouts on a nearby mountain in which girls and boys sit all night around a carapfire singing and having refreshments. Those who take part in such outings are labeled "troublemakers" if discovered. There is con- siderable adrairation given the individuals who are able to take part without discovery, and even the most ''straight'' of the workers conside-^s it quite proper co infringe on rules thought to be unfair or unimportant. In order to survive as an employee of the conference center, one must stay vithin certain boundaries of conduct. Everyone who comes to xvork signs a promise to a!;ide by set rules, one rule being not to drink within the gates. Boys are asked and expected to shave beards and cut hair to ear- length. Girls must wear modest clothing. 157 Neatness and politeness on the job are essential. But V7ith5.n these broad general bc-havioral specif icatioas theie is a large allowance for individual freedom. For example, boys who were told Lo wear a coat and tie to usher at a Sunday serv/ice were seen v.'earing the prescribed uniform but with dungarees and bare feet, a part of them which did not show while walking on the side aisles » The rule which was most hotly contested by the coilegiates themselves x^as the curfew of 1:00 A.M. for girl xrorkers. They argued that boys should have the same restrictions, but their niiiin argument \